This book is essential reading for all students needing an understanding of history as a discipline. History in Practice explores the discipline's breadth, its complexities and the tasks it takes on. This study by one of the liveliest and most acute practitioners in the field demystifies what historians do. It looks at history as an academic discipline but also engages with the use of historical ideas in the wider world. Historical work has public consequences and draws considerable energy from contemporary preoccupations. For this new edition of her respected and widely used book, Ludmilla Jordanova has revised the text and added a new chapter that takes into account recent world events. She discusses the role of the internet, globalisation, world history and the current enthusiasm for military history. This book is essential reading for all students needing an understanding of history as a discipline. 'One of the last half-century's most insightful, level-headed, and humane reflections on the practice of history and its cultural significance.' - History 'A major, deeply reflective work upon the nature of studying and writing history. No other author has treated the subject in the same way. She writes with equal facility about the history of society, high-politics, economics and science and displays a genuine understanding of the differing spirits and methods of sociology, anthropology and philosphy and the ways in which these have made an impact upon history.' - Ronald Hutton, Professor of History, University of Bristol

About the Author

Ludmilla Jordanova holds a Chair in History at King's College London. She was previously Director of the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Downing College.

Prizes

Expanded range of international examples New chapter on the most recent trends (such as globalisation and world history) New and updated images throughout Highly readable and engaging style Highly readable and engaging style

Reviews

Jordanova is brilliant in exposition makes a fine case for the inescapability of the past and the absolute essentiality of studying it. English Historical Review - first edition review This brilliant essay abounds with penetrating yet down-to-earth insights about the practice of academic history. One of the last half-century's most insightful, level-headed, and humane reflections on the practice of history and its cultural significance (to be) welcomed by professional historians also accessible to general readers and undergraduates. History Journal (US) - first edition review Achieves what I had thought increasingly impossible in this congested field: it says something fresh, stimulating, and thought provoking. It is, to my mind, a very significant contribution to current debates about the nature of history in offering an account which is simultaneously rooted in practice and engaged with theoretical debates. Patrick Finney, University of Wales, Lampeter - first edition review Jordanova succeeds admirably in her aim to place the practice of history in a wider disciplinary context. Not only is she alive to the constructed nature of subject boundaries and their porosity, but also to the relatively recent date of their institutionalisation. Reviews in History - first edition review