What Is History?

What is History?
	Cover to the 1990 edition
Author	E. H. Carr
Language	English
Genre	Historiography lectures
Publisher	University of Cambridge & Penguin Books
Publication date	1961
Publication place	United Kingdom

What Is History? is a 1961 non-fiction book by historian E. H. Carr on historiography. It discusses history, facts, the bias of historians, science, morality, individuals and society, and moral judgements in history.

The book originated in a series of lectures given by Carr in 1961 at the University of Cambridge. The lectures were intended as a broad introduction into the subject of the theory of history and their accessibility has resulted in What is History? becoming one of the key texts in the field of historiography.^[1]

Some of Carr's ideas are contentious, particularly his relativism and his rejection of contingency as an important factor in historical analysis. His work provoked a number of responses, most notably Geoffrey Elton's The Practice of History.

Carr was in the process of revising What is History? for a second edition at the time of his death.^[2]

^ "What is history? book review: E. H. Carr, a critical appraisal". archives.history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
^ Davies, R.W. (1986) From E.H. Carr's Files: Notes towards a Second Edition of What is History? page lv in E.H. Carr (1986) What is History, 2nd Edition

[1] "What is history? book review: E. H. Carr, a critical appraisal". archives.history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-05-30.

[2] Davies, R.W. (1986) From E.H. Carr's Files: Notes towards a Second Edition of What is History? page lv in E.H. Carr (1986) What is History, 2nd Edition

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