人间与天庭——麦克尼尔与汤因比之间的学术渊源与分歧

对文明和文明史深刻而独到的认识,是麦克尼尔史学成就中的一个重要组成部分。就学理而言,麦氏与英国著名史学大师汤因比有着密切的关联,故而,就他们之间的学术关系加以梳理、辨析,不仅对认识麦氏本人史学主张和成就大有助益,亦可从一个特定角度和层面对20世纪西方史学在有关世界史研究领域的传承、变革与发展有更为清晰的了解与把握。     

自然破碎处 万物不复存——汤因比论世界与中国命运

1976年 ,汤因比的最后一部历史哲学巨著《人类与大地母亲》出版 ,现代社会种种深刻危机的总病源 ,终于被发现了 :人与生物圈之间的力量平衡 ,被发端于英国 ,后波及全球的工业革命所打破 ,人与大地母亲血肉相连、唇齿相依的关系出现了逆转 ,人类把生物圈破坏和剥夺到山穷水尽、不可救药的地步。当代民族国家体制下的政治堕落和商业贪婪 ,更使人类事务混乱到无以复加的程度。汤因比预言 :全人类的政治统一和精神觉醒 ,是人类自救、避免酿成更大灾难的根本途径。     

‘Time of Troubles’: Arnold J. Toynbee's twentieth century

Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) has long been neglected or discounted by scholars of international relations and historians of international thought. Yet his contributions to International Affairs, as well as his Surveys of international affairs and his A study of history demonstrate both his capacity for acute interpretation of contemporary events and the depth of his learning about past international societies. This article examines his analysis of mid‐twentieth century international relations, that ‘Time of Troubles’ which he believed would only be escaped through a recovery of ‘creativity’ and profound change in the ways in which world politics were practised. It explores the foundations of his approach to the field, demonstrated both in his Surveys of international affairs and his twelve volume magnum opus, A study of history, as well as his essays in journals. It analyses his diagnosis of the causes of our contemporary ‘Time of Troubles’, in the light of past episodes in world history Toynbee thought analogous to that present condition of international relations. And it traces his retreat from political solutions to the challenges faced in the twentieth century and his movement towards religious responses as a putative alternative. It concludes by arguing that Toynbee deserves recognition, not simply as a pioneering world historian or a controversial interpreter of the politics of the Middle East, but as an acute commentator on the international relations of a troubled age.     

The Denbigh Project: excavation of a Civil War blockade-runner, J. Barto Arnold III

The blockade-runner Denbigh , one of the most successful and famous of the American Civil War, was located and recorded near Galveston in December, 1997. The site, 41GV143, was identified during a reconnaissance by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Texas A&M University. The 182-ft (55.5 m)-long, iron hulled, 258-ton displacement side-wheeler was built in 1860 by Laird, Sons & Co. of Birkenhead as a coastal paddle steamer and, when new, was considered a crack ship with all the latest features of design and technology.
This paper covers the 2000 excavation phase of an underwater archaeology project to investigate the Denbigh . It is the third in a series of preliminary progress reports. The report also provides updated findings on the ship's history.     

J.W. Burrow: A personal history

The late John Burrow, one of the most stimulating promoters of the distinctively interdisciplinary enterprise that is Intellectual History, was a vital member of what has become known as the ‘Sussex School’. In exploring the resonances of his singular and richly idiosyncratic contribution, this article places his unique historical sensibility within a series of interpretative contexts, demonstrating the vitality of writings that will continue to inspire and inform scholarship in the field for decades to come.