The Pursuit of History

John Tosh is a British historian and Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Roehampton and a member of the Royal Historical Society. He is known as a historian who believes that the study of history is an essential part of understanding the present, that the past teaches us about the future, and that it would be good to take this into account.

The Pursuit of History, a classic introduction to the study of history, invites the reader to observe and examine some of its most fundamental questions:

What is the purpose of studying history? How do we know the past? Does an objective historical truth exist, and can we ever reach it?

In answering these fundamental questions, Tosh argues that, despite the impression of fragmentation created recently by postmodernism, history is a coherent discipline that still bears the traces of its origins in the 19th century.

John Tosh's discourse is clear and engaging, which makes this edition suitable for every reader, for students, as well as for researchers.