Institutes with an interest in contemporary history have mushroomed across the world, and particularly in Europe. The powerful rise of the media has contributed to giving a new gloss to the present, the witness, the historical actor, and to daily life. The writing of present history, however, raises difficulties for historians, difficulties that arise with the obtaining of documentation in circumstances where the time between an event and its documentation is short, the sensitivity of the issues that may be under judicial examination, and of course the issue of objectivity when interpreting events. This focus on contemporary events has risen among historians since the 1980s. The global political upheavals following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the rise of international terrorism, have triggered a strong demand for studies analysing these trends. We are living today in a period of return to the event, biography, and narrative. These three forms have proved their legitimacy once again and found their place in the writing of contemporary history, and with it a focus on subjects of daily life, and on experiences as lived by those who have personally witnessed them. This study is an attempt to provide insight to the following questions: What are the contexts that highlight contemporary history? What are the phenomena of the major revival of this form of history? And what are the conditions they impose on historians?