Past Convictions - (Middle Ages) by Courtney M Booker (Hardcover)
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About this item
Highlights
- How do people, in both the past and the present, think about moments of social and political crisis, and how do they respond to them?
- About the Author: Courtney M. Booker teaches history at the University of British Columbia.
- 432 Pages
- History, Europe
- Series Name: Middle Ages
Description
About the Book
As much historiography as reception history, Past Convictions analyzes and explicates the production of historical narratives, the subsequent contestation and appropriation of these narratives, and the insight such activities allows us into how people understand change and its remembrance.Book Synopsis
How do people, in both the past and the present, think about moments of social and political crisis, and how do they respond to them? What are the interpretive codes by which troubling events are read and given meaning, and what part do these codes play in suggesting specific strategies for coping with the world? In Past Convictions Courtney Booker attempts to answer these questions by examining the controversial divestiture and public penance of Charlemagne's son, the Emperor Louis the Pious, in 833.
Historians have customarily viewed the event as marking the beginning of the end of the Carolingian dynasty. Exploring how both contemporaries and subsequent generations thought about Louis's forfeiture of the throne, Booker contends that certain vivid ninth-century narratives reveal a close but ephemeral connection between historiography and the generic conventions of comedy and tragedy. In tracing how writers of later centuries built upon these dramatic Carolingian accounts to tell a larger story of faith, betrayal, political expediency, and decline, he explicates the ways historiography shapes our vision of the past and what we think we know about it, and the ways its interpretive models may fall short.Review Quotes
"Booker is not content to question prevailing interpretations of a single set of events. Instead, he revises at least two centuries' worth of ways of knowing about them. Past Convictions will have paradigmatic significance for scholars seeking to know how various interpretations assumed their adamantine forms."-- "Thomas F. X. Noble, University of Notre Dame"
"The book makes two impressive contributions to medieval history. First, Booker's careful analysis of a thousand-year-long historiographical tradition sounds a warning about the dangers of relying on reified traditions. Second, he cleverly recovers stifled voices from the ninth century, ones well worth remembering for their power in deposing an emperor. . . . An important read for anyone interested in historiography or Carolingian history."-- "Religious Studies Review"
About the Author
Courtney M. Booker teaches history at the University of British Columbia.Dimensions (Overall): 9.37 Inches (H) x 6.3 Inches (W) x 1.42 Inches (D)
Weight: 1.75 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 432
Genre: History
Sub-Genre: Europe
Series Title: Middle Ages
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Theme: Medieval
Format: Hardcover
Author: Courtney M Booker
Language: English
Street Date: September 9, 2009
TCIN: 94292355
UPC: 9780812241686
Item Number (DPCI): 247-15-5162
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
Shipping details
Estimated ship dimensions: 1.42 inches length x 6.3 inches width x 9.37 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 1.75 pounds
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