The autonomy of history

"In these learned essays, Joseph M. Levine shows how the idea and method of modern history began to develop during the Renaissance, when a clear distinction between history and fiction was first proposed and defended both in practice and in theory. The dependence of history on rhetoric and theology dissolved as history gradually won its autonomy.

He offers a number of case histories to show that by the end of the eighteenth century, recourse to "matter of fact" became pervasive, and the new claims for history were met by skepticism in a debate that still echoes today."--BOOK JACKET.