2001年11月，英国的历史研究院为纪念爱德华卡尔的《历史是什么？》发表四十周年，与剑桥三一学院、麦克米兰公司联合主办了纪念性的研讨会，讨论当代史学实践的现状。会后由David Cannadine选取其中部分关键文章，编辑成书。 Review "Readers will find reliable and insightful information presented without recourse to jargon."--E.A. Breisach, Choice "If anyone were to provide an equivalent to What is History? for the early twenty-first century, it would surely be David Cannadine...as balanced as [it is] indispensible."--David Armitage, Columbia University "At last, What is History? gets the successor it deserves...extremely readable and highly stimulating."--Roy Porter, University College, London "[Cannadine] has assembled a distinguished team who convey, with spirit and lucidity, the scale and excitement of [historical] discovery."--The Sunday Telegraph "...should prove invaluable to graduate students and scholars..."--Claude Ury, History: Reviews of New Books "Both the sense of the past and the strudy of history have changed significantly since E.H.Carr asked the question What is History? The key word in this new book, stimulating and in places provocative, is Now. Various authors, drawing largely on their personal experiences as historians, explore the processes and implications of change."--Asa Briggs