“Historical Knowledge, Historical Error is part of a resurgence of interest in the philosophy of history. Allan Megill knows his history and is more than usually sophisticated as a philosopher. He has useful and wise things to say on a host of topics including memory, counterfactuals, narrative, and professionalization. By no means do I agree with all that Megill has argued, but he is intelligent, clear, and displays a scholarly integrity that is rock-solid. The book deserves our extended attention.”--Bruce Kuklick, University of Pennsylvania

Bruce Kuklick

“Megill’s book represents a major and much-needed intervention in the debates that have engaged historians and philosophers of history in the last two or three decades. Coming from someone who has thought deeply, carefully, and long on the meanings of historical objectivity for our times, this is a book that presents a fresh and clear point of view. Megill’s argument deserves attention from everybody who wonders about where the discipline of history might be headed once the dust has settled on the tired debates over objectivity versus relativist skepticism.”--Dipesh Chakrabarty, University of Chicago

 

Dipesh Chakrabarty

"With this rigorous and lucid work, Megill has made a major contribution to the understanding of historical thought. . . . In brief, this is a work of exceptional value. Essential."

Choice

"The essays are to acquaint students with contemporary challenges of improper methodology or epistemology, to be overcome like the (more numerous) labors of Hercules."

John L. Harvey | H-France

"This is a rewarding book. In ten essays, Allan Megill explores some of the most pressing challenges and worrisome pitfalls in modern historical practice. . . . These challenging and stimulating essays succeed well . . . in affirming that history works best when it is sharply distinguished from the present. Indeed, by remaining true to its core disciplinary methods and ideals, history can serve, Megill movingly concludes, ’as a model of honesty and intelligence in the investigation of the human world.’"

Christopher Layne | Journal of American History

"Demanding intellectual rigor, Megill re-defines familiar terms and interjects his own firm opinions, leading readers along a circuitous path through the brambles of his own impressive learning. Readers can only trail along after this insightful and candid guide as he provocatively cites noted philosophers and historians, chastising them for solecisms. . . . To read his essays is like auditing a bracing seminar conducted by a stimulating, opinionated teacher."

Raymond Grew | Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"This is an engaged book: it energetically attempts to provide ’a contemporary guide to practice,’ to ward off historical error by the discriminating constitution of historical knowledge. At the heart of the book is Megill’s long-standing engagement with the concept of ’objectivity,’ and his effort to reconstitute the notion in terms of its many and nested significations."

John H. Zammito | Journal of Southern History