From the famous controversy between E H Carr and Geoffrey Elton, sparked by Carr's 'What is History?' half a century ago, to the more recent 'postmodernism' debate, historians have been sharply divided over such key issues in historiography as the relative importance of empirical evidence, theories, moral values, and narrative subjectivity. Explores these issues through both the major writings of the key protagonists in these debates, and case studies of three of the most celebrated 'wars of interpretation' in European history: the English Civil War, the French Revolution, and the rise of Nazism in Germany.