Book Review

Methods/Theory

In his preface, John Patrick Diggins supplies his readers with the proper context into which to place his new book, for he there proudly owns up to being a "cold-water historian" (p. x) with a habit of dousing historiographical fads that distort the historical or philosophical record. In previous works, he had excoriated history written under the aegis of three great "isms" of the past century's historiography: Marxism; civic republicanism; pragmatism and neo-pragmatism. These old enemies come in for occasional pummeling in the new work, but the focus shifts here to two newer fads or faiths in historical writing, multiculturalism and poststructuralism. Though professedly applying "cold water," Diggins writes with an engaging amount of heat, perhaps more here than in his previous books, for here the enemies propound not merely a false picture of American history (as did the three earlier fads he opposed) but declare open war on the very idea of historical truth. Diggins admits to having "a problem with schools of thought that claim we can get along without the authority of truth." He has large fish to fry here, fish that often lead him to philosophical speculation unusual in historical writings, for he attempts no less than a defense of truth itself. Diggins is uneven in the success of his address to the large questions he raises. In part, the claims raised are historical claims, and although historians will debate the cogency of his response, he is arguably on strong ground when he replies to historical claims with history. But in part the claims are philosophical, and his historical responses are not always to the point.

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