Who is to say how things really were? In formulating a modern answer to the question 'What is History?' Professor Carr shows that the 'facts' of history are simply those which historians have selected for scrutiny. Millions have crossed the Rubicon, but the historians tell us that only Caesar's crossing was significant. All historical facts come to us as a result of interpretative choices by historians influenced by the standards of their age. Yet if absolute objectivity is impossible, the role of the historian need in no way suffer; nor does history lose its fascination. This edition includes new material which presents the major conclusions of Professor Carr's notes for the second edition and a new preface by the author, in which he calls for `a saner and more balanced outlook on the future'.

Author Biography

Edward Hallett Carr was born in 1892. He joined the Foreign Office in 1916 and worked there in many roles until 1936 when he became Woodrow Wilson Professor of International Politics at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. After the war he became a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford and then of Trinity College, Cambridge. His major work was the 14-volume A History of Soviet Russia (published 1950-78). What Is History? is based on his Trevelyan Lectures, delivered in 1961. He died in 1982.