Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring History is the business of telling 'true stories', in which both elements - the attempt to be truthful, the need to narrate - are always in productive tension.This Very Short Introduction is a lively and engaged guide to the study of history. Using a very wide range of examples, from antiquity to modernity, it explores with the reader how historical questions of interpretation and analysis arise out of the challenges presented by different kinds of historical sources (material as well as documentary), and how the writing of history has always been both an important endeavour for inescapably enmeshed with current concerns and conceptualizations of the past. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.