Pre-Order Your Copy of "Why Study History"

I should be able to reveal the cover design at the end of the month, but I am happy to announce that Why Study History: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past is now available for pre-order at Amazon and other bookstores.  The book will be out in September.

Here is the updated table of contents and an updated description drawn from a previous blog post:
 
I see the book as a short primer on the study of history.  My primary audience is Christian college students who are studying history, but much of what I have to say is applicable to students of the past with other religious affiliations or none at all. I also hope the book will be a resource for graduate students and college professors, especially those who are just starting to get their feet wet in the classroom.  Scholars, and especially those who specialize in historiography, will not find much that is new in this text apart from an interpretive synthesis of what I believe to be some of the best scholarship on historical thinking, the relationship between history and society, and the integration of faith and the historian's vocation.

 I have deliberately made an effort to blend the theoretical and the practical in jargon-free, easily accessible prose.  So much of the scholarly work in historiography tends to be dense and impregnable to the undergraduate mind. While I have not avoided complex ideas at the intersection of history and theory, I have largely downplayed them in favor of an approach that students will find useful.  For example, I have devoted considerable attention to the way history can contribute to a healthy democratic society, how history can deepen our spiritual lives, and even how the study of history prepares one for a variety of careers and vocations in an ever-growing and expanding marketplace.   

Prologue
Ch. 1:  What Do Historians Do?
Ch. 2:  In Search of a Useable Past
Ch. 3:  The Past is a Foreign Country
Ch. 4:  Providence and History
Ch. 5:  Some Christian Resources for Studying the Past
Ch. 6:  History for a Civil Society
Ch. 7:  The Power to Transform
Ch. 8:  So What Can You Do With a History Major
Epilogue: History and the Church
Appendix: Proposal: A Center for American History and a Civil Society