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

Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America’s Cemeteries
Who Ate the First Oyster?: The Extraordinary People Behind the Greatest Firsts in History
The Kingdom of Prep: The Inside Story of the Rise and (Near) Fall of J.Crew
Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World
Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television
Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America
Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials
Dolls of Our Lives
The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont
Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark
Worn: A People's History of Clothing
Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet
Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close
The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance
Hands of Time: A Watchmaker's History
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
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
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
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
Rain: A Natural and Cultural History
Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
The Botany of Desire by Michael PollanBraiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererThe Hidden Life of Trees by Peter WohllebenLab Girl by Hope JahrenThe Drunken Botanist by Amy  Stewart
Nonfiction Books about Plants
411 books — 132 voters

Salt by Mark KurlanskyAt Home by Bill BrysonGuns, Germs, and Steel by Jared DiamondThe Professor and the Madman by Simon WinchesterA Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Histories of the Everyday
369 books — 332 voters
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve BrusatteI'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamaraEnlightenment Now by Steven PinkerFascism by Madeleine K. AlbrightThe Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C. Mann
Historical Nonfiction 2018
217 books — 56 voters

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara KingsolverThe Jungle Books by Rudyard KiplingGorillas in the Mist by Dian FosseyThe Travelers Within by Daniel ModeOut of Africa by Isak Dinesen
Rainforests and Jungles of the World
360 books — 97 voters
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony BourdainThe Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael PollanAnimal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara KingsolverFast Food Nation by Eric SchlosserIn Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Food-Related Non-Fiction
1,192 books — 1,671 voters


Related Genres

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