内容简介

Engaging and challenging, this extensively revised key text of current historiography confronts the 'histories' that exist and have existed around the world, from the Zulu kingdoms to Communist China.
　　Marc Ferro is remarkable in writing history enjoyed both by scholars and by people curious about the world in which they live and its past. He has explored everything from high politics to popular culture. His interests have taken him across narrow national boundaries and won him enthusiastic readers in many lands.' - Natalie Zemon Davis 'Part of the necessary function of history is that, in advancing understanding of the past, it challenges and deflates myths, while at the same time explaining their origins and significance. This is conclusively demonstrated in Marc Ferro's study of the way in which history is taught around the world.' - Arthur Marwick, author of The New Nature of History 'The Use and Abuse of History has the singular effect of bringing into focus a dimension of historical awareness which is much more integral to the understanding of the contemporary world than we might have thought.' - The Times Literary Supplement 'Marc Ferro is remarkable in writing history enjoyed both by scholars and by people curious about the world in which they live and its past.' - Natalie Zemon Davis.