History, Signing In: Essays in History and Semiotics (Semiotics and the Human Sciences)

History, Singing in is a double-entendre indicating the dual purpose of this book. First it marks the initial effort by a practicing historian to demonstrate the usefulness of semiotics for the discipline of history. Second, the essays in this volume on Charles S. Peirce, predecessors and successors of Peirce in the United States, the interpretation of historical texts such as Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the historical significance of music and film illustrate the working of signs in both history and the interpretation of history by great thinkers.