Shaping History
Narratives of Political Change
AUTHOR: Molly Andrews


Featuring extraordinary personal accounts, this book provides a unique window through which to examine some of the great political changes of our time, and reveals both the potential and the challenge of narrating the political world. Molly Andrews' novel analysis of the relationship between history and biography presents in-depth case studies of four different countries, offers insights into controversial issues such as the explosion of patriotism in post -9/11 USA; East Germans' ambivalent reactions to the fall of the Berlin Wall; the pressures on victims to tell certain kinds of stories while testifying before South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and the lifelong commitment to fight for social justice in England. Each of the case studies explores the implicit political worldviews which individuals impart through the stories they tell about their lives, as well as the wider social and political context which makes some stories more 'tell-able' than others.

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Reviews & endorsements

"This is an inspiring book. It seamlessly weaves together theory in political science, psychology and sociology with the human stories, gathered in in-depth interviews, of people deeply engaged in important historical conditions and events. The concerns of the interviews range from identity, to commitment to causes and the moral meaning of actions. This is an important scholarly book that is a pleasure to read."
- Ervin Staub, author of The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence (Cambridge, 1992) and The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others (Cambridge, 2003)