“I was born in France, I have drunk the waters of her culture. I have made her past my own. I breathe freely only in her climate, and I have done my best, with others, to defend her interests.”
Bloch in L’Etrange Défaite

« Papa, explique-moi donc à quoi sert l’histoire. »

Un livre sans pareil. Écrit pendant l'Occupation par l'historien Marc Bloch à partir de ses seuls souvenirs, ce livre nourri d'érudition fait la somme de la mission de l'historien, question d'une grande urgence à l'âge des totalitarismes et de leurs falsifications de masse. Dans son dernier texte, l'historien écrit un plaidoyer pour une histoire impliquée, soucieuse de véracité et d'honnêteté intellectuelle. Apologie pour l'Histoire ou métier d'historien est le testament de Marc Bloch en même temps que le manifeste qui réunit les principes chers à l'École des Annales.

Chapitre I : L'Histoire, les Hommes et le Temps
Chapitre II : L’Observation historique
Chapitre III : La Critique
Chapitre IV : L'Analyse historique
Chapitre V : Sans suite


Accompagnement :
Waltz on a Minor Opus 150 - Frédéric Chopin, interprétation de Rigutto Bruno

I turned to the back of the book to read the author's credentials, expecting the usual Oxbridge/Ivy League pedigree and litany of awards. Instead I was shocked to learn that Marc Bloch had been tortured and killed by Nazis. Here was a historian who joined the French Resistance rather than escape while he could. He penned this meditation on the nature of history as a Jew in occupied France, without the aid of an academic library.

Wow. It would be impossible not to respect Marc Bloch. Though this book isn't perfect, it is amazing that it even exists.

There is much to say about the work. As a literature- and material culture-loving type of history grad student, I especially appreciated the value Bloch put on sources beyond documents found in archives. He incorporated place names, old words, objects, and the built environment into his historical analyses. He questioned things like thinking of historical eras in terms of centuries (or really trying to divide up discrete eras to begin with). He considers how a historian evaluates sources and the various falsehoods that can creep into them.

The Historian's Craft is an artifact of its own time, as one can tell from some of Bloch's post-positivist, not-exactly-Marxist, yet pre-post-structuralist [?] ideas and ways of framing them. [Edit: I've since learned about the Annales School that he was part of. Makes sense now]. The prose style is quite florid, filled with analogies and metaphors, unlike most historical writing today. Then there's the subtitle: "...History...and the Men who Write It." So, yes, it's dated in certain ways.

Still. This book is well worth reading and considering.

L'ho letto, l'ho riletto, l'ho criticato, l'ho rivoltato come un calzino (notare l'usura della copertina scannerizzata).
Non si allontana mai dalla mia vista. E' come un vecchio nonno saggio che, con grande semplicità, al bisogno, mi ricorda il rigore di un mestiere difficile.
Ma non è un testo per addetti ai lavori. E' per chi ama interrogarsi sullo scorrere del tempo e sul posto che ciascuno di noi vi occupa. E' una delle migliori illustrazioni che io conosca di ciò che afferma anche il mitico Francesco: "la storia siamo NOI, nessuno si senta escluso".

O desenvolvimento do argumento do Marc Bloch aqui é meio hermético demais porque 1) o cara tava preso e escrevendo tudo de cabeça 2) o cara tava na iminência da morte, a mente um caos e tal. Ainda assim, é impressionante como o cara conseguiu registrar no papel os principais pontos com uma precisão que me dá arrepios ate hoje.

Siento que lo leí demasiado rápido (y con demasiada jaqueca).
Lo que logre entender me ha parecido magistral, lo que no logre entender queda para una relectura futura. Emocionante dentro de su contexto.

Excellent book. Translated from French, his turns of phrase are sometimes difficult to parse. But they're always beautiful. His analogies are frequent, inspired, and sometimes humorous. The historiography is original, and while sometimes outdated or abandoned, never unquestionably wrong. The book itself is a unique historical artifact, shaped dramatically by the conditions under which it was written. As a result of those conditions, it is very clearly unfinished. But definitely worth reading. It is particularly interesting if you work with history, but if you have a serious interest, it would probably still be engaging.

Хубава книга, но твърде разпиляна в интердисциплинарното анализиране.. И един хубав цитат "Тъй като впрочем няма нищо по - изменчиво по природа от подобни присъди, подложени на всички колебания на колективното съзнание или личната прищявка, историята е приела облика на най-несигурната дисциплина: кухите обвинения са следвани от толкова безполезни реабилитации. Робеспиеристи, антиробеспиеристи, молим ви за милост: смилете се и просто ни кажете какъв е бил Робеспиер"

it’s giving insight it’s giving critical thinkkkkingggg

Gràcies Marc Bloch per fer-me sentir tonto 3 cops per paràgraf

This reflection on history, historians, historiography, and their relation to men, space, time, and the other social sciences is nothing short of both tragedy and brilliance. On one hand is the tragedy: Marc Bloch, a Jewish academic and French patriot who fought in World War I, could not finish the book, let alone give it greater drafts, due to also fighting in WW2 and being killed under Nazi reign. On the other hand is brilliance: the book is filled with Bloch's passions, ingenuity, and remembrances (since he could not use a library, and had to write of many events, people, and quotations without proper archives for confirmation). Its reflections are modern, humble, and imbued with both Bloch's own love of learning, but also with his typical love for others to learn.

What we ended up with was likely only 2/3 of a greater ambition. It feels disingenuous to give this a 5 star rating, something I hold in high esteem, due to the unfinished nature of this work. But it also feels disingenuous to my heart, which has always been moved by Bloch's writings since I began reading him months ago, to not rate this equal to any of my other favorite works of nonfiction. Highly recommend to anybody looking to see history as both a science and as an artform, or to understand the epistemology of one of the greatest historians of the 20th century.

5 Stars

this was a really, i mean, obviously a foundational text and a lot of its observations still hold true today; i'm not sure if i would reread it but reading it was a valuable experience and it's probably a good book to have around