This will be done by looking at three main concepts found in his work. As a prolific writer for over 40 years, this article aims to serve as an introduction to some of White’s key ideas, while arguing for the continued relevance of his work for the modern historian. Monkkonen suspected that only a handful of historians would actually concur with his theories. However, after the publication of Metahistory, Eric H. Herman Paul believes that White emerged as a passionate rebel against scientism and a defender of humanist values. Naturally, this has led to White becoming a divisive theorist among historians.
Therefore, this makes it hard for the historian to write anything significant without obscuring ‘what really happened’. He did this by comparing historical writing to the writing of literature, noticing that there are many similarities between them. Hayden White, one of the most important figures of the last century in the historical discipline, helped to undermine this idea. The purpose of history is often described as revealing the ‘truth’ about the past.
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