The purpose of the paper is to examine the problem of the so-called "death of scientific historiography in the postmodern era". According to the Author, the relation between "history as a social science" and "history as a narrative art" has become more complicated in the late twentieth century than many critics of contemporary historiography say. Not all historians have capitulated to relativism and relevance for it is of no doubt that many of them continue to cherish the canons of their craft, to respect the regularities of the historical past, and maintain high methodological standards.

Marc Bloch — one of the most distinguished 20th Century historians – is the author of Strange Defeat: A Statement of Evidence Written in 1940. Serving as a staff offi cer, Bloch witnessed the fall of France in 1940 from the front line. This book is so interesting from the methodological point of view, because we are presented here with a historical source created by a historian, who additionally knows how an ideal type of historical evidence ought to be written. This French historian thought that history is also written to give contemporaries lessons on how to avoid the mistakes of the past. This is an important message of Strange Defeat.

Tekst jest recenzją pracy: Violetta Julkowska, Historie rodzinne. Narracje – narratorzy – interpretacje (Poznań–Bydgoszcz: Instytut Historii UAM i Oficyna Wydawnicza EPIGRAM, 2018), 272 ss.

The paper examines the special historiographic evidence: the lost last book by the well-known Polish historian and methodologist Professor Jerzy Topolski entitled “Methodology of History at the Beginning of the 21st Century”. Only its working outline in the form of an extensive table of contents has survived, but this does not prevent the author from making interesting hypotheses as to its meaning.

The paper considers Timothy Snyder’s applied methodology of history. Snyder’s original field of interest as a professional historian was historical biography, but it did not take him long to put transnational history at the centre of his attention. The author posits that Snyder’s practice in this historiographic paradigm has laid the foundation for his greatest academic achievements, leading to him being recognized as one of the best historians working today.

The paper examines the special historiographic evidence: the lost last book of the well‑known Polish historian and methodologist Professor Jerzy Topolski entitled “New Methodology of History”. Only its working outline in the form of an extensive table of contents has survived, but this does not prevent the author from making interesting hypotheses as to its meaning.