The Control of the Past: Herbert Butterfield and the Pitfalls of Official History (IHR Shorts) - Softcover

Salmon, Patrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1914477197 ISBN 13: 9781914477195

Publisher: University of London Press, 2021

Synopsis

Written by one of the few historians employed by the British government, this important book details how successive governments have applied a selective approach to the past in order to tell or re-tell Britain's national history, with implications for the future. Providing a unique overview of the main trends of official history in Britain since the Second World War, the book details how Herbert Butterfield (1900-1979) became one of the earliest and strongest critics of what he saw as the British government's attempts to control the past through the writing of so-called, 'official histories'.

About this title

About the Author

Patrick Salmon is Chief Historian at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. He was formerly Professor of International History at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Foreign Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. His publications include Scandinavia and the Great Powers 1890-1940 (1997), Deadlock and Diversion: Scandinavia in British Strategy during the Twilight War 1939-1940 (2012) and several volumes in the series Documents on British Policy Overseas (DBPO), including German Unification, 1989-1990 (2009), The Challenge of Apartheid: UK-South African Relations, 1985-1986 (2017) and The Unwinding of Apartheid: UK-South African Relations, 1986-1990 (2019).

Edition details

• Publisher: University of London Press
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1914477197
• ISBN 13: 9781914477195
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 118