Microhistory

Microhistory is the intensive historical investigation of a well defined smaller unit of research (most often a single event, community of a village, family or person). In its ambition, however, microhistory can be distinguished from a simple case study insofar as microhistory aspires to "[ask] large questions in small places", to use the definition given by Charles Joyner ...more

All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat Now
Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America’s Cemeteries
Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
Who Ate the First Oyster?: The Extraordinary People Behind the Greatest Firsts in History
Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash
The LEGO Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World’s Imagination
Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder
The Phantom Plague: How Tuberculosis Shaped History
Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America
Worn: A People's History of Clothing
A Cat's Tale: A Journey Through Feline History
Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks
Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World in a Big Way
The Kingdom of Prep: The Inside Story of the Rise and (Near) Fall of J.Crew
The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court
Salt: A World History
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
At Home: A Short History of Private Life
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
Color: A Natural History of the Palette
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Paper: Paging Through History
Rain: A Natural and Cultural History
The Removable Root Cause of Cancers and other Chronic Diseases  by Paul OlaThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca SklootSay Nothing by Patrick Radden KeefeThe Library Book by Susan OrleanWhy We Sleep by Matthew Walker
Fascinating Non-Fiction
135 books — 26 voters
The Botany of Desire by Michael PollanThe Hidden Life of Trees by Peter WohllebenBraiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererLab Girl by Hope JahrenThe Drunken Botanist by Amy  Stewart
Nonfiction Books about Plants
416 books — 141 voters

1421 by Gavin Menzies1434 by Gavin MenziesMein Kampf by Adolf HitlerThe Devil in the White City by Erik LarsonThe Holy Bible by Anonymous
Worst historical non-fiction
39 books — 39 voters
Salt by Mark KurlanskyAt Home by Bill BrysonGuns, Germs, and Steel by Jared DiamondA Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill BrysonThe Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
Histories of the Everyday
372 books — 336 voters


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History is not merely about kings and their wars. We should know the story of people at large-not necessarily only those of politicians or film stars. How else can we relate to the lives of people influenced by the socio-political milieu, beyond their control?
S.Krishnaswamy

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Tags contributing to this page include: microhistory, micro-history, and microhistories