Dejmkovo velké dílo pod drobnohledem
Dejmek's Magnum Opus under the Microscope

Summary/Abstract: The author presents a thorough review of Jindfich Dejmek's Nenaplnene nadeje: Poli-ticke a diplomaticke vztahy Ceskoslovenska a Velke Britdnie (1918-1938) [Dashed hopes: Czechoslovak-British political and diplomatic relations, 1918-38] (Prague: Karolinum, 2003) and also responds briefly to Dejmek's reaction to another negative review of his work. Some historians have called this work by Dejmek the 'book of the year' in the field of history. The present reviewer, however, finds it has many weaknesses. He argues that the author's narrowing down of the history of international relations almost exclu¬sively to diplomatic history is difficult to accept in modern historiography. In his view it completely disregards analysis of the phenomena considered, inquiry into their causes, or the input of contemporary historical debates. He also points out places where Dejmek has wrongly dealt with the primary and secondary sources, used clumsy language, and misunderstood the English. The large work, according to the reviewer, is marked by the author's bias against British policy and its representatives while always defending Czechoslovak policy.

• Details
• Contents