Doing Recent History

"Historians have been writing accounts of the recent past since history acquired a modern audience, and in the last several years interest in recent topics has grown exponentially. From Walmart to disco and from Chavez to Schlafly, books about the history of our own time have become arguably the most exciting and talked-about part of the discipline. Despite this rich tradition and growing popularity, historians have engaged in little discussion about the specific methodological, political, and ethical issues related to writing about the recent past. The twelve essays in this collection explore the challenges of writing histories of recent events where visibility is inherently imperfect, hindsight and perspective are lacking, and historiography is underdeveloped"--