Fighting infection. Conquests of the twentieth century

DENYS HAY, Annalists and historians. Western historiography from the eighth to the eighteenth century, London, Methuen, 1977, 8vo, pp. viii, 215, £2.95 (paperback). For very nearly forty years the distinguished Professor of Medieval History in the University of Edinburgh has planned to write a history of European historiography. He now does so with a brilliant survey, ranging from the historians of Greece and Rome to those of the late eighteenth century. As he points out, there is a great need for such a book and it will no doubt receive a warm reception and wide audience. As a continuation, we now need an account of nineteenthand twentieth-century historiography, including the appearance of specialist craftsmen, such as historians of science and medicine.