Preface: Where I'm Coming From

1 The Tradition Established 1

The US 15

Marxists and socialists 18

2 War, Cold War and the 1960s Revolution 24

Cold War 26

The 1960s revolution 34

Consequences 41

The cutting edge 49

3 Continuing Revolution or Counter-Revolution? 51

Adventures of the dialectic - social history in the backwash 55

The French connection 58

Anglo-American responses 62

Why postmodernism? 65

4 Institutions and Personnel 71

Teaching 73

Postgraduates 77

Emplotment 82

Archives 85

Journals and publishers 88

Other institutional frameworks 92

5 Reality, Representation, Truth and Narrative 96

Being and seeing 96

Historiographical implications 103

Hayden White and others 111

Other deconstructionists 118

Historical employment 122

6 Grand Narrative 128

Teleologies 129

Evolution and culture 138

Marxism 142

Nietzsche and Foucault 149

Grand narrative or long-term explanation? 154

7 Identity and Morality 157

Whose history? 160

Evaluation in history 167

Conclusion 175

Notes 185

Brief Bibliography 203

Index 208