Biography: An Historiography - Paperback

by Melanie Nolan (Author)

Biography: An Historiography examines how Western historians have used biography from the nineteenth century to the present - considering the problems and challenges that historians have faced in their biographical practice systematically.

This volume analyses the strategies and methods that historians have used in response to seven major issues identified over time to do with evidence, including but not limited to the problem of causation, the problem of fact and fiction, the problem of other minds, the problem of significance or representativeness, the problems of perspective, both macro and micro, and the problem of subjectivity and relative truth.

This volume will be essential for both postgraduates and historians studying biography.

Author Biography

Melanie Nolan is Professor of History, Director of the National Centre of Biography, and General Editor of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, in the School of History, at the Australian National University.