Toynbee Prize Foundation Trustee Publishes "The History Manifesto"

Toynbee Prize Foundation Trustee David Armitage (Harvard University) has recently authored a short tract with fellow historian of Britain Jo Guildi (Brown),  provocatively titled The History Manifesto. "How should historians speak truth to power–and why does it matter?" ask the authors.

Why is five hundred years better than five months or five years as a planning horizon? And why is history - especially long-term history - so essential to understanding the multiple pasts which gave rise to our conflicted present? The History Manifesto is a call to arms to historians and everyone interested in the role of history in contemporary society.

Armitage and Guildi go on to "identify a recent shift back to longer-term narratives, following many decades of increasing specialization, which they argue is vital for the future of historical scholarship and how it is communicated." A changing of temporal horizons, they urge, is crucial, if historians hope to address big themes like global warming, public health, or development–themes that are all especially amenable to a global history approach.

Interested readers can read the open-access manifesto or join the debate at the book's website here.