Edition: 2010
Pages: 142
Series: SL
ISBN: 9788842092087
Pages: 142
Series: SL
ISBN: 9788842092087
The Political Use of Historical Paradigms
"History - so it is said - is written by the victors, but the problem is to understand who they are." Even if this is a field that lends itself to paradox, it is also undeniable that much depends on the period under consideration: that is, on the meaning attributed to certain events and their interpretations as well as on the comparison of different, possible, analogies. Analogy as the principle tool of historical inquiry forms the core of this book, whose main theme is how historical events are considered, and whose constant interlocutor is historical revisionism. Accordingly the reader confronts from start to end two archetypical events in our history, the French and Russian Revolutions, set on the testing ground of analogical comprehension and of the mental comings and goings of revisionism.
The author
Luciano Canfora
Luciano Canfora, historian of the ancient world and an Italian philologist, is one of Italy’s foremost living intellectuals. Professor emeritus of Greek and Latin philology at the University of Bari, he is a member of the “Institute for the classical tradition” in Boston, of the “Fondazione Istituto Gramsci” in Rome, and directs the journal Quaderni di storia. His numerous studies, translated worldwide, are characterised by a multidisciplinary approach and a broad field of research. Among his most recent publications: Fermare l’odio; La metamorfosi; Il tesoro degli Ebrei. Roma e Gerusalemme; La democrazia dei signori; Catilina. Una rivoluzione mancata; Sovranità limitata.
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