Once again everyone is talking about history and its practitioners. Why do people care about history? It is still casually assumed that the 'point' of history is to tell us 'who we are'. History and National Life, by a historian whose last book The Fall and Rise of the Stately Home (in effect a history of much of the 'heritage' idea) was hailed both by historians and general reviewers as 'superb', 'wonderful', splendid', 'fascinating' and 'enthralling', argues that history is less directly 'useful', but also richer than that. Here, Peter Mandler, writing largely in a British context, examines how successive generations use central historical totems (e.g. Henry VIII, Starkey's Elizabeth, the Walter Raleigh of the cover, the Civil War, World War One) for their own purposes - educational, moral, cultural or political. He concludes with a look at the debate about national English/British identity.
- ISBN10 1861974841
- ISBN13 9781861974846
- Publish Date 17 July 2003 (first published 3 July 2002)
- Publish Status Cancelled
- Out of Print 22 August 2004
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Profile Books Ltd
- Edition Main
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 192
- Language English