History

I am relatively surprised that I enjoyed this book.

It is an easy claim to make that Arnold doesn't like political history and would rather study social history. However, I feel like he doesn't make that claim. Throughout 7 chapters we are introduced to various figures in history arguing that without the ordinary people, there wouldn't be a history. While this claim is bold which minimises political ramifications, he argues it's just one explanation. He never says that one interpretation of history is definitive. Each historian discusses something they find interesting in an arbitrary time period and as a result, not everything is discussed.

He provides a balanced view of each school of thought in history and historiography which I definitely found interesting as a history major.

I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to perhaps challenge their understanding of history and its purpose.