"Do historians reconstruct the truth or simply tell stories? This book suggests that they do both, and that the balance between 'truth' and 'story' is tremendously important to history. Taking us from the fabulous tales of ancient Greek historians to the varied approaches of modern professionals, History: A Very Short Introduction illuminates our relationship to the past by making us aware of how 'history' has changed as a subject. Concepts such as periodization and causation are discussed, but not in a dry or abstract fashion. Instead, the book works through particular historical examples - including a medieval murderer, a seventeenth-century colonist, and an ex-slave woman - to illustrate and explain the ways in which we study and understand history, giving the reader a sense of the excitement of discovering not only the past, but also ourselves."--BOOK JACKET