Small Worlds: Method, Meaning, and Narrative in Microhistory

by James F. Brooks (Editor)

Growing unease with grand theories of modernization and global integration brought twelve scholars from four disciplines to the School for Advanced Research for an experiment with the research genre known as microhistory. These authors now call for a return to narrative, detailed analysis on a small scale, and the search for unforeseen meanings embedded in cases. The essential feature of this perspective is a search for significance in the microcosm, the large lessons discovered in small worlds. Urging the recognition of potential commonalities among archaeology, history, sociology, and anthropology, the authors propose that historical interpretation should move freely across disciplines, historical study should be held up to the present, and individual lives should be understood as the intersection of biography and history. The authors develop these themes in a kaleidoscope of places and periods West Africa, the Yucatan peninsula, Italy, Argentina, California, Brazil, Virginia, and Boston, among others. They illuminate discrete places, people, and processes through which both the intimacy of lived experience and the more distant forces that shaped their days can be viewed simultaneously."

Genres: Microhistory, History

346 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2008

Reviews

[Karla Kitalong · Rating 3 out of 5]

The microhistories included in this collection are diverse and (mostly) interesting. I especially liked the discussions of methods/methologies highlighted in each chapter. I think I have another book on microhistories that is more methodological, but the contextualization of the methods/methodologies worked well for me in this book. The authors also cross-referenced one another's chapters, so it was pretty easy to follow the methodologies and relationships and threads among the chapters even though each had a specific and idiosyncratic content and focus. I'm glad I finally read the book. I got interested in microhistories some time ago (after I moved back to Michigan Tech) and bought the books to respond to a call for papers. Then (as so often), I didn't try my luck responding to the call.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. There are a few excellent essays, some decent examples and several which were useless. This is a fairly decent survey of the different ways in which microhistories can be written and employed and there are definitely a couple examples of what not to do. This would be a good introductory book to the field/phenomenon of microhistory, but it's hardly a must-read.