The aim of this article is substantially devoted to explore which factors have, and have had, an impact on the way history is actually explained. The main topics are: - The fundamental passage from a monological interpretation of history to a "plurality of voices", linked to post-modern culture. The complex debate about Post-modern culture is significantly marked by the disappearance of the monology (a great cultural uniting discourse) and by the emergence of different interpretations and visions. This process has a clear influence on the way history is now explained and the way the "official history" has been substituted by different narratives. The meaning of collective memory. The role of collective memory has acquired a renewed significance today, scholars belonging to different disciplines have underlined its importance in the nation-building processes or in the re-affirmation of identity. For example, ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the passing of time is producing peculiar interpretations and alterations about the recent history of the former socialist countries. The history of these new democratic societies has been re-written, not in the oriented and "orwellian" way, followed by the previous regimes, but through the subtle, complex and spontaneous work of the collective memory. The political and ideological action oriented to "create" or to "erase" historical events, which can be functional to the elites legitimisation. Elites need a symbolic background to support their political action and to maintain the consensus of society. They are able both to create new myths or partisan visions that can undermine the legitimacy of a political system and to support real democratic societies.

The article is a critical analysis of the renowned book by D.J. Goldhagen Hitler's willing executioners, Using comparative historiography the author of the article reconstructs Goldhagen's narrative model and compares it with the achieved cognitive effects. In doing so, he demonstrates weaknesses both of the model and of the effects.

In this review I analyse a book titled Introduction to Historical Psychology written by Maciej Dymkowski. The book is an attempt to work out foundations of a new discipline combining psychology and history. M. Dymkowski convincingly argues that historians should more often use psychological models in their explanations of different historical phenomena. He argues that especially cognitive social psychology can help to understand mechanisms and processes which govern human behaviour. I agree that it is necessary to include in historical explanations psychologically patterned ways of perceiving, classification, deforming of social reality.

The article deals with Witold Kula's anthropological vision of economic history, what allows the Author to analyze a broader phenomenon of anthropologization of history.

The article deals with the situation of historiography in the contemporary world (especially on the West). The most recent trends in the research of the history are discussed. According to author the present post-modern reality creates a new challenges for traditional historiography. The author suggests that historical writting shoul aim toward multi-medial "texts".

The article deals with the evolution of the Polish national identity in the 19th century in the European context. The Author shows why traditional methods could not explain why this ideology developed and proposes her own method to analyze this phenomenon.

Author proves that historical myth we can perceive as some kind of structuralization of experiencing world and history, as an instrument or device which historians use for ordering the material and imaginations.