The lifetime of Johan Huizinga (1872–1945) was marked by dramatic transformations in Europe. Cityscapes, aesthetic codes, social orders, political cultures, international travel and means of warfare developed beyond recognition; entire catalogues of hopes and fears were torn asunder and replaced by new ones during not one but two wars. Amidst all these changes, Huizinga grew to become one of the most famous historians of his time. To this day, his works are treated as monuments in the cultural historical field.
This book examines how these transformations and ‘experiences of loss’ affected and informed Huizinga’s historical perspectives. Most centrally, this book contends that Huizinga’s historical works helped to accommodate and give meaning to his own experiences of uncertainty and rupture, thus offering him a way of life in turbulent times. This project offers an original and comprehensive analysis of an iconic historian writing in the age of collapse

Thor Rydin is a lecturer in cultural history at Utrecht University.

1 Writing History in Times of Loss: A New Johan Huizinga
2 ‘The Tyranny of the Present’
3An Irretrievably Lost Past
4The Future, a Machine
5The Delay of the ‘Grotian Hour’
6The Looming Loss of a Democratic Order
7Conclusion: In the Image of Loss
List of Illustrations
Bibliography
Index of Names