Social History: Problems, Strategies and Methods

by Miles Fairburn

This book critically analyzes the methodological problems encountered in the study of social history, providing a full assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of both the conventional and more innovative methods devised to resolve them. Drawing examples from some of the classic works in the discipline, Miles Fairburn examines the nature, varieties, schools and evolution of social history. Comprehensive and lucid, this is an original and accessible guide.

Genres: History

335 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Johan Rehnstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I exaggerate when writing that the author knows the subject. I read the book as part of studying history C at a Swedish university. I find it very valuable material to understand how to study, well, social history, and to read material about social history. The reason I only gave it a 3/5 is the fact that I find the way the book is written is boring. As someone working in finance and with a finance education, I am used to material with tables and graphical presentation of what you want your "information consumer" to understand. You won't find any of that here. Even though the book contains lots of comparing descriptions, and breakdown of concepts into smaller parts, there is nothing there to help the reader understand. You might end up reading a paragraph several times or putting your own summary on a piece of paper to get the big picture and understand how the pieces fit together in the giant puzzle that social history is.

[Diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty horrible. Mostly self-evident stuff, although perhaps someone completely unfamiliar with the process of writing historically would find it useful?