Table of Contents

Preface
Prologue: Britain in Iraq
Contending Histories
Other Worlds
Becoming Ourselves
Parallels in the Past
The Family in Crisis: a Case-Study
History Goes Public
The Citizen's Resource
Conclusion
Postscript: British Historians and Brexit
Notes
Select Bibliography.

Promotional Information

This fully revised second edition of a seminal textbook persuasively argues that history is central to an informed and critical understanding of topical issues in the present. Updated with contemporary examples, this is an important and practical introduction for all students of history.

About the Author

John Tosh is Professor of History at the University of Roehampton, UK, Visiting Professor at Birkbeck University of London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is well known for his introductory text The Pursuit of History (6th edition, 2015). He has also published widely on the history of masculinities in Britain, notably A Man’s Place: Masculinity and the Middle-Class Home in Victorian England (2007).

Reviews

Why History Matters is a thoughtful and thought-provoking text about history and historical thinking which challenges us to consider the power of history and the power of historians to intervene in contemporary assumptions and misguided debates. – Samantha Shave, University of Lincoln, UK Tosh introduces the much-needed theory of practical historical awareness—accurate history that can be practically applied to the present.
*Heather Barry, St Joseph’s College New York, USA*

Why History Matters makes clear the societal benefits of critical public history, embodying John Tosh’s belief that historians have a duty to promote analytical engagement with the past.
*Henry Irving, Leeds Beckett University, UK*