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Explore Niche Nonfiction with These Recent Microhistories
The term “microhistory” is a relatively new designation that refers to nonfiction history books that focus in on a single event, person, or other specific unit of research. The idea is to stay away from the broad 101-style overviews and surveys, and the inevitable generalizations that result from that kind of approach.
Think of it as the professional author version of the rabbit-hole phenomenon online, when you get intensely interested in some random thing and suddenly half an afternoon has gone by. The bald eagle, say. Or the history of clocks. Or books bound in human skin. No, really.
The books gathered below are a sampling of popular recent microhistories published since 2019 with average reader ratings of 3.5 stars and above. We’ve also thrown in a few upcoming titles from the rest of 2022 to look forward to, for those who like to plan their reading well in advance.
Scroll over the book covers to learn more about each title, and add the ones that pique your interest to your Want to Read shelf.
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Do you enjoy microhistories? What are some of your favorites? Let's chat books in the comments below!
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Check out more recent articles:
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Comments Showing 1-22 of 22 (22 new)
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by
Kristen
(new)
May 20, 2022 04:18AM
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage and Flushed by W. Hodding Carter come to mind. Going to add some of these to my to-read list. :D
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Microhistories? That's how they are called?Yes, I guess I like them! AND this List might become a starting point to add to the ones I already planned to get my hands on.
I'm looking forward to reading The Bald Eagle.
I've been trying to read more nonfiction, but it's often difficult to find interesting topics. I appreciate this list! Thank you!
My favourite of these microhistories is just called "The Book". It's about rhe history of everything that goes into making a book and it's interesting as hell
The Address Book was one of my favourite reads in 2021! And "niche non-fiction" is definitely on my list of buzzphrases.
Laura wrote: "My favourite of these microhistories is just called "The Book". It's about rhe history of everything that goes into making a book and it's interesting as hell"Who is the author, or can you link to the book page?
I loved Index: A History of the. I'm reading Worn and find it riveting. I can't wait to get to some of these other volumes!
Interesting list. Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus and 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus seem to be similar to the list.
Laura wrote: "My favourite of these microhistories is just called "The Book". It's about rhe history of everything that goes into making a book and it's interesting as hell"Who is the author? I tried looking it up and I haven't found it.
Anisa, I finally found it in the OP’s shelves: It’s The Book (with subtitle) by Keith Hughes.
Marc *Dark Reader of the Woods* wrote: "Anisa, I finally found it in the OP’s shelves: It’s The Book (with subtitle) by Keith Hughes."Here's the real one: The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time by Keith Houston
Hughes, Houston; tomato, potato. My memory doesn’t survive toggling pages, clearly. Thanks for clarifying, Gavin.
A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman was the best book I have ever read. From this list, I highly recommend The Book of Eels.
Also... Cranioklepty by Colin Dickson, which is about grave robbing😬
Gavin wrote: "Marc *Dark Reader of the Woods* wrote: "Anisa, I finally found it in the OP’s shelves: It’s The Book (with subtitle) by Keith Hughes."Here's the real one: [book:The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Explora..."
He also wrote Shady Characters about punctuation.
I loved What killed Jane Austin and other medical mysteries by George Biro and Lesley Leavesley so I’m definitely up for the book about Poison
The Perfection of the Paperclip and Shady Characters are my favourites!
