A master practitioner gives us an entertaining tour of the historian's workshop and a spirited defense of the search for historical truth. E. H. Carr's What Is History? , a classic introduction to the field, may now give way to a worthy successor. In his compact, intriguing survey, Richard J. Evans shows us how historians manage to extract meaning from the recalcitrant past. To materials that are frustratingly meager, or overwhelmingly profuse, they bring an array of tools that range from agreed-upon rules of documentation and powerful computer models to the skilled investigator's sudden insight, all employed with the aim of reconstructing a verifiable, usable past. Evans defends this commitment to historical knowledge from the attacks of postmodernist critics who see all judgments as subjective. Evans brings "a remarkable range, a nose for the archives, a taste for controversy, and a fluent pen" ( The New Republic ) to this splendid work. "Essential reading for coming generations."-Keith Thomas

理查德-艾文斯(Richard J．Evans)，当代杰出的历史学家，剑桥大学近现代史钦定讲座教授。著作等身，曾获多种奖项与奖励。在迄今为止他出版的近二十本著作中，影响最大的书当属Deathin Hamburg：SocietyandPolitics the Choler a Yearsl830-1910(Oxford，1987)，InHitler's Shadow：WestGermanHistorians andtheAttempttoEscapefrom the NaziPast(New York，1989)，Rituals ofRetribution(Oxford，1996)，Talesfrom the German Underworld(New Haven and London，1998)，The ThirdReich in Powerl933-1939(London and NewYork，2005)等。

著作详细目录

The Feminist Movement In Germany, 1894–1933, London: Sage Publications, 1976.

"German Women and the Triumph of Hitler," The Journal of Modern History Vol. 48, No. 1, March 1976

The Feminists: Women's Emancipation Movements in Europe, America and Australasia, 1840–1920, London: C. Helm, 1977.

Society And Politics In Wilhelmine Germany edited by R. J. Evans, London: Croom Helm, 1980, 1978.

Review article: "The History of European Women: A Critical Survey of Recent Research," The Journal of Modern History Vol. 52, No. 4, December 1980

The German Family: Essays on the Social History of The Family in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Germany, London: C. Helm ; Totowa, N. J.: Barnes & Noble Books, 1981.

The German Working Class, 1888–1933: The Politics Of Everyday Life, London: Croom Helm ; Totowa, N. J.: Barnes & Noble, 1982.

The German Peasantry: Conflict And Community in Rural Society from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Centuries edited by Richard J. Evans and W. R. Lee, London: Croom Helm, 1986.

The German Unemployed: Experiences And Consequences Of Mass Unemployment From The Weimar Republic To The Third Reich, London: C. Helm, 1987.

Rethinking German History: Nineteenth-Century Germany And The Origins Of The Third Reich, London: Allen and Unwin, 1987.

Comrades And Sisters: Feminism, Socialism, And Pacifism In Europe, 1870–1945, Brighton, Sussex: Wheatsheaf Books; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987.

"The New Nationalism and the Old History: Perspectives on the West German Historikerstreit," The Journal of Modern History, Volume 59, No. 4, December 1987, pages 761–97

Death In Hamburg: Society And Politics In The Cholera Years, 1830–1910 Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987.

The German Underworld: Deviants And Outcasts In German history, London: Routledge, 1988.

In Hitler's Shadow: West German Historians And The Attempt To Escape From The Nazi Past, London: I. B. Tauris, 1989, ISBN 1-85043-146-9.

Proletarians And Politics: Socialism, Protest, And The Working Class In Germany Before The First World War, New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990.

The German Bourgeoisie: Essays On The Social History Of The German Middle Class From The Late Eighteenth To The Early Twentieth Century London: Routledge, 1991.

Rituals Of Retribution: Capital Punishment In Germany 1600–1987, New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Rereading German History: From Unification To Reunification, 1800–1996, London; New York: Routledge, 1997.

Tales From The German Underworld: Crime And Punishment In The Nineteenth Century, New Haven [Conn.]; London: Yale University Press, 1998.

In Defense of History, New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1999.

Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, And The David Irving Trial, New York: Basic Books, 2001; published in the United Kingdom as Telling Lies About Hitler: The Holocaust, History and the David Irving Trial, Verso Books, 2002.

The Coming Of The Third Reich, London: Allen Lane, 2003.

The Third Reich In Power, 1933–1939, New York: Penguin, 2005.

The Third Reich at War: How the Nazis Led Germany from Conquest to Disaster , London: Allen Lane, 2008.

Cosmopolitan Islanders: British Historians and The European Continent, Cambridge University Press, 2009