History: Why It Matters
About this ebook
So how can any certainty about history be established, and why does it matter? Lynn Hunt shows why the search for truth about the past, as a continual process of discovery, is vital for our societies. History has an essential role to play in ensuring honest presentation of evidence. In this way, it can foster humility about our present-day concerns, a critical attitude toward chauvinism, and an openness to other peoples and cultures. History, Hunt argues, is our best defense against tyranny.
Introducing Polity's Why It Matters series; in these short and lively books, world-leading thinkers make the case for the importance of their subjects and aim to inspire a new generation of students.
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About the author
Lynn Hunt is a world-renowned historian of Europe who has written numerous scholarly and popular history books. Her books have been translated into fourteen languages and read by tens of thousands of students across the globe. She is former President of the American Historical Association, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Philosophical Society, as well as Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.
