Political history

The invitation to reflect on the methods, purposes, and possibilities of political history has given me a welcome opportunity to develop a little further some of the points I briefly sketched in my Practice of History, as well to consider some additional matters arising out of the actual work of studying and writing history. I could perhaps wish that I had been more systematic, but the indulgent critic may appreciate that this relative lack of order itself reflects realities about historical writing which a more precise and philosophical approach obscures. I know that I may seem to have repeated myself too often but would argue that one of the striking things about these inquiries is the manner in which the same issues arise as different lines of approach are tried: the contents of this kind of history and the problems of its necessary methods are seen to be remarkably interrelated. That very probably I have not succeeded in taking any part of the argument to a final conclusion I should be very far from denying: but that, too, is in the nature of history.