the end of optimism
Posted by Gordon on July 29, 2008
From a review of books by Judt and Mazower by David Herman
Something has changed in the way history is being written. The contrast between the postwar generation of historians, writing in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and many of today’s equivalents is striking. Whether they are writing about the Reformation or early Victorian England, the French revolution or modern Russian history, there is a new pessimism. Atrocities and massacres that were once marginal are now centre stage. A quiet confidence in stability and progress towards greater prosperity and equality has given way to a new uncertainty, a sense that all you can be sure of is the piles of corpses left by war and revolution.
