Peter Hoffer, author of The Historians’ Paradox, will be at the NYU Booth at OAH on Saturday from 2-3 signing copies and answering your questions. Stop on by! Below is a bit from Peter’s Teacher’s Guide for the book.
The Historians’ Paradox was written for the classroom. The Historians’ Paradox fits historical methods and senior writing seminars for undergraduates as well as graduate courses in methods and historiography. Although The Historians’ Paradox is a not a textbook on philosophy of history, it incorporates a wide variety of materials for students. These include the logic of historical arguments, logical fallacies in histories, counterfactuals, using the techniques of the novelist to understand historical writing, the politics of the historical profession, ethical standards for history in the marketplace, the problem of uncertainty and history, and finally moral judgements and history. The make the medicine go down easier, the book uses contemporary as well as classic examples and anecdotes, many of them humorous. Each chapter builds upon its predecessors, and each is a little more demanding.
