10/05/2012

Death of an historian

The fawning obits over historian Eric Hobsbawm's passing triggered this little thought experiment.

p.s.,Thought for the day from this obit compendium:
Most historians are by nature either short-story writers or novelists...
More the pity.

p.s. I last blogged about Hobsbawm in 2006. Kevin Levin complemented the posting. If you ride the "Lost Cause" hobbyhorse (if you believe there is such a thing as a "Lost Cause" tradition), you have to read Hobsbawm and the concept of "invented traditions," no excuses. Then you have to read Popper on what a conspiracy theory is and ask yourself if you belong to one.