Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

Mackay, Niall J. / Wood, Jamie / Fagan, Brennen et al., Quantifying Counterfactual Military History. (ASA-CRC Series on Statistical Reasoning in Science and Society) 216 pp. 2023:9 (Chapman & Hall / CRC, US) <701-147>
ISBN 978-1-138-59452-4 hard ¥17,865.- (税込) GB￡ 61.99 *
ISBN 978-1-138-59238-4 paper ¥6,913.- (税込) GB￡ 23.99 *

Forces shaping human history are complex, but the course of history is undeniably changed on many occasions by conscious acts. These may be premeditated or responsive, calmly calculated or performed under great pressure. They may also be successful or catastrophic, but how are historians to make such judgements and appeal to evidence in support of their conclusions? Further, and crucially, how exactly are we to distinguish probable unrealized alternatives from improbable ones? This book describes some of the modern statistical techniques that can begin to answer this question, as well as some of the difficulties in doing so. Using simple, well-quantified cases drawn from military history, we claim that statistics can now help us to navigate the near-truths, the envelope around the events with which any meaningful historical analysis must deal, and to quantify the basis of such analysis. Quantifying Counterfactual Military History is intended for a general audience who are interested in learning more about statistical methods both in military history and for wider applications.Key Features: This book demonstrates how modern statistical techniques can measure the impact of counterfactual decisions. It examines the importance of counterfactual reasoning for both modern scholars and historical actors. It combines historical narrative, mathematical precision and data to create a straightforward presentation of both factual and counterfactual military history. It provides an original contribution to the debate over the validity and rigour of works of counterfactual history. It is written in a manner accessible to readers who have no formal training in History or Statistics.

Pomorski, Jan, Polish Theory of History and Metahistory in Topolski, Pomian, and Tokarczuk: From Hayden White and Beyond. (Routledge Approaches to History) 256 pp. 2023:7 (Routledge, UK) <701-1127>
ISBN 978-1-03-249460-9 hard ¥38,907.- (税込) GB￡ 135.00 *

This book traces the development of the Polish theory of history, analysing how Jerzy Topolski, Krzysztof Pomian, and Olga Tokarczuk have both built upon and transgressed the metahistorical theories of American historian Hayden White.Poland's reception of White's work has gone through different phases, from distancing to a period of fascination and eventual critical analysis, beginning with Topolski's methodological school in the 1980s. Topolski played a major role in international debates on historical theory in the second half of the 20th century. The book's second study is a rare opportunity for English-speaking audiences to engage with the thoughts of Pomian, a philosopher and historian of ideas who has both complemented and developed theories of historical cognition independently from White. In the final chapter, the book presents a study of the historical imagination in 21st-century Central and Eastern Europe through the work of novelist Tokarczuk, the winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature. In considering the contributions of these three thinkers, the book explores the active process by which past becomes history and thus motivates contemporary actions and realities.By deconstructing and reconstructing contemporary theories of history, this research is a unique contribution to the fields of historiography and the philosophy of history.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.