The French Historical Revolution: The Annales School, 1929-1989

by Peter Burke

This book provides a critical history of the movement associated with the journal ''Annales'', from its foundation in 1929 to the present. Burke argues that this movement has been the single most important force in the development of what is sometimes called the ''new history''. Burke distinguishes three main generations in the development of the Annales School. The first generation included Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch, who fought against the old historical establishment and founded the journal ''Annales''. The second generation was dominated by Braudel, whose magnificent work on the Mediterranean has become a modern classic. The third generation includes well-known contemporary historians such as Duby, Le Goff and Le Roy Ladurie.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, France, Sociology, Philosophy, Politics, Biography

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Peter Burke is a British historian and professor. He was educated by the Jesuits and at St John's College, Oxford, and was a doctoral candidate at St Antony's College. From 1962 to 1979, he was part of the School of European Studies at Sussex University, before moving to the University of Cambridge, where he holds the title of Professor Emeritus of Cultural History and Fellow of Emmanuel College. Burke is celebrated as a historian not only of the early modern era, but one who emphasizes the relevance of social and cultural history to modern issues. He is married to Brazilian historian Maria Lúcia Garcia Pallares-Burke.

Reviews

[Bilal Y. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Annales'in berisinde yatan öncü fikirler kısaca şöyle özetlenebilir. İlkin, olaylardan oluşan geleneksel anlatının (narrative of events) yerini sorun-odaklı bir analitik tarih alır, ikinci olarak, esasen siyasete odaklanan bir tarihin yerine insan faaliyetlerinin tamamına eğilen bir tarih geçer. Üçüncü olarak, sözünü ettiğim bu iki amacı gerçekleştirebilmek gayesiyle, öbür disiplinlerle - coğrafya, sosyoloji, psikoloji, ekonomi, dilbilim, antropoloji vb. - işbirliği yapmaya önem verilir."

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what I was looking for. In 142 pages, Burke covers the founding of the Annales school by Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch, then describes how their students and colleagues have developed and evolved the new approach to writing history to the present day. The core belief was that it was a mistake to write history focused on great men and notable events. Historical change, they said, develops slowly (the longue duree, or long term) driven by geography, trading patterns, evolving technology, economics, etc.

Drawing in part on work by Durkheim, Febvre and Bloch started the influential journal Annales d'histoire economique et sociale in 1929. The two had met and got rolling in Strausburg, but most of their careers were spent in Paris. Their work attracted colleagues and students and the journal is still being published, albeit under a somewhat different title. I happen to have read Febvre's The Problem of Unbelief in the Sixteenth Century: The Religion of Rabelais while I was studying Gargantua and Pantagruel with an online seminar group. It was fascinating.

Febvre's student Braudel spent ten years (interrupted by WWII) on his monumental doctoral dissertation The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, Volume I. From then on, he focused on civilization materielle, or material culture, producing an overview of European history from 1400 to 1800 in three large volumes: Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century, Vol. 1: The Structures of Everyday Life. This is on my 'to be read' shelf. Other members of the group worked extensively on quantitative history, among other techniques.

Burke covers the various branches of the Annales school across time and the globe. Each scholar is given a niche and his or her major works are listed. (And they are with very few exceptions 'his' works.) The earlier historians are given more biographical background. An extensive bibliography helps if you want to pursue a particular aspect of history (time, country, driver, etc. ) or a particular methodological focus.

[Büşra · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a history student I think it was quite easy to understand and I believe it's one of the best books about the Annales school.

[Camilla Pruccoli 🎃☕️🪄 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante e scorrevole escursione tra gli eventi principali che hanno caratterizzato l’evoluzione della rivista francese “Les Annales” (1929) e il suo contributo alla storiografia in Occidente.
Consiglio vivamente anche ai non addetti ai lavori per la sua facilità di comprensione e completezza di informazioni.

[barbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024: DEAR OLD ME- I now understand why we are doing therapy, my one was reading Peter burke and pretending to enjoy life, I get it now. babes how can the annals school be entertaining, but also YOU DO YOU- protect your peace my love. you were such a nerd, love you.

I have been reading and alarming amount of books on historiography this year. I d0n't really enjoy it. However, Burke has a way with words and what tends to be quite dry history, turns into a really entertaining account on how the Annales School came about in March of 1929. Both authors have been classified for years as classics, and even owning a few of their works, I hadn't payed much attention to them.
Now I believe my perspective has changed: thanks to Burke adding a bit more of context for me, I find the argument of going back to mid 20th century historiography much more appealing that I did before.

[lukas · Rating 5 out of 5]

veľmi fajny prehľad, s dobrým ucebnicovym vysvetlením

[Andres Felipe Contreras Buitrago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leí una parte de este libro para mí curso de introducción a la historiografía hace 4 años, y lo leo completo. Es inegable el gran aporte que hicieron los Annales en el campo de la historia, un libro corto con un lenguaje sencillo que aborda muy bien a muchos de los historiadores de este movimiento.

En la introducción se nos presenta como tal la escuela de los Annales y algunos historiadores, así como sus tres principales aportes a la historiografía como lo son: pensar la historia como un problema, centrarse en otros campos aparte del político y usar otras disciplinas, la escuela no es tan homogénea hay una gran diversidad de ideas y autores, por eso es mejor hablar de movimiento.

Posteriormente en el primer capítulo, se hace un pequeño recorrido del como se había escrito la historia antes de los Annales, vemos una historia muy centrada en campos políticos, militares y económicos, aunque había espacio para aspectos culturales, para la llegada de Annales ya había un espacio de crítica hacia la historia positivista, se estaba exigiendo una nueva historia interdisciplinaria que tumbe los falsos ídolos políticos, individuales y cronológicos.

En el segundo capítulo se presentan a los fundadores de la revista de Annales, Lucian Febvre y Marc Bloch, dos personas con personalidades distintas pero que trabajarán en conjunto, tenían deudas con historiadores pasados y sus maestros eran de diversas ramas como la sociología, la antropología, la psicología o la geografía. Bloch se centraría más en la psicología, mientras que su compañero en la geografía, el primero fue pionero en la historia comparada y el uso de la psicología histórica , que se ve reflejado en su libro de los Reyes taumaturgos; febvre, mostrará el espacio geográfico como algo que el ser humano puede usar s su beneficio.

En la revista participaron personas de distintas disciplinas, y sus artículos en esta primera fase eran en su mayoría económicos, Bloch murió en la segunda guerra mundial, su homólogo, luego de este conflicto se haría de la revista, haciéndola muy institucional y siendo muy críticos con otras formas de ver la historia.

En el tercer capítulo, es la segunda generación de Annales, aquí la figura central será Fernan Braudel, el cual realizó una obra cumbre la cual fue el Mediterráneo de Felipe II, su importancia radico en mostrar la influencia del espacio en la historia, además de mostrar fenómeno según el tiempo. Recibió críticas como el ser determinista ambiental, no centrarse en lo humano o dejar de lado ciertos aspectos culturales, como los valores. Pese a todo Braudel potenció aún más la revista trayendo nuevas personas.

Luego este historiador escribiría tres tomos sobre la civilización material, que aborda una historia casi total desde varios ámbitos, no obstante, por aquella época ya habían tensiones en los Annales como el uso de la historia cuantitativa que de vio en Lobrousse, el cual uso estadística en los precios y luego en la demografía. Le Roy por su parte estudió el clima en la historia humana.

El cuarto capítulo, es sobre la tercera generación de Annales, la cual ya no tendré una figura rectora, sino que será mucho más diverso, incluso habrán mujeres. En este episodio francés tenemos estudios más culturales como los de Aries sobre la niñez en el antiguo régimen o sobre la visión que tenía la sociedad ante la muertes, también encontramos un uso de la psicohistoria, la cual usando el psicoanálisis, da como resultado la historia de las mentalidades que se ve reflejado en Duby y Le Goff, por otra seguimos con una historia serial, donde la cultura se cuantifica y se analizan ahora los datos estadísticos.

También hay críticas a los Annales, en específico tres. La primera es el giro antropologico donde autores como Foucault y Bourdieu dan insumos para historias que usan métodos etnográficos y son más reducidas como es el ejemplo de Montaillou de Le Roy, la segunda, es más sobre un retorno al tema político, si bien nunca desapareció si está volviendo a ser más importante, por último, tenemos una historia más narrativa, donde las biografías nos sirven para acceder a las mentalidad.

En el último capítulo, tenemos como fue la recepción de Annales, esto último fue algo que en ciertos lugares fue muy buen acogido como es el caso de Italia, Bélgica o Polonia. En otros lugares como Alemania, no fue muy bien recibida debido al predominio de una historia política, militar y económica, ya luego con los años iría cambios este enfoque, en Inglaterra, fueron los más críticos a las ideas de Annales, solo serían los marxistas Británicos los que mejor lo recibirían. En otros campos Annales ha aportado, como el uso de metodología en el estudio de la historia antigua, en otros lugares como América, Asía o África apenas recibieron la influencia de Annales.

Este movimiento influyó mucho en sociólogos como Foucault y su idea de genealogía, aportó en la antropología para el estudio de cosas sagradas, también aportó en algo en geografía. Annales en últimas, fue una rebelión de muchas que de estaba gestando por la época, habían muchos cambios que ocurrían en simultáneo en otros lugares. El gran aporte de Annales fue que la historia diálogora con otras disciplinas, pese a todos sus tensiones y críticas Annales tiene en su haber obras maestras y cambios sin parangón.

En conclusión un libro impresindible para cualquier estudiante de historia, o sus afines.

[Eilidh Fyfe]

losing my mind literally what is this

[Ekin Aksu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I have yet to read any major work by him, Peter Burke slowly gets among my favorite historians. I really like his simple and direct writing, objective style, and especially his skill in categorizing and structuring, which makes him really fun and rewarding to read.

This book is a great review of the Annales school, it summarizes major works and their criticisms while (very importantly) underlining their key novelties and importance, tells us the history of the movement, and explains how Annales influenced (and was influenced by) other branches of social sciences.

[Βασίλης Πλαΐτης · Rating 4 out of 5]

Άλλο ένα αρκετά ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο από τον Burke. Μια ωραία περίληψη της γενιάς των Annales, σχετικά ευνόητο στα αγγλικά (δεν έχει μεταφραστεί από όσο γνωρίζω). Αν και παραδέχεται ότι είναι μεγάλος θαυμαστής του έργου της σχολής, αναφέρεται σχεδόν πάντα στην κριτική και προσπαθεί να δώσει μια πιο σφαιρική οπτική στον αναγνώστη.

[Aykut Karabay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kurucularının kuramları ile birlikte Anales okulunun gelişimi anlatılmış. Anales Okulu; Sorun odaklı-karşılaştırmalı,dizisel,nesnel,disiplinler arası işbirliğine dayalı,uzun süreli bir tarih anlayışı geliştirmiş. Olayların tarihin yüzeyinden ibaret olduğu,altında daha derin yapıların olduğunu,buna ulaşmak için gözlem ve disiplinler arası işbirliğinin şart olduğunu vurguluyorlar. Tarihçi olmasanızda hayata bilimsel açıdan bakmanıza fayda sağlayacaktır.

[Weslley Dos Santos Graper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bom livro para um panorama sobre os períodos, nomes, obras e conceitos que envolvem os Annales.

[Özben Yıldız · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sosyoloji alanında kendimi bulmamı sağlayan en önemli kitaplardan biriydi. Araştırmacı kimliğimi şekillendirmemi sağlayan ve bana yol gösteren bir kitaptı...

[Liangdi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very comprehensive review of the history of the Annales School (or movement). From the first generation of Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch, to the age of Fernand Braudel and eventually the third generation, which diverged so much that Burke claims the movement is "effectively over". In just over a hundred pages, Burke offers his readers a careful characterization of the various members of the Annales group, the type of "new history" it is aiming at and how it interacted with various other disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, geography, and psychology.

In short, this is a concise but accurate introductory material to the evolution of the Annales School and how it has influenced our view towards history. A good springboard for anybody interested in the Annales .

[bautista · Rating 4 out of 5]

conciso y directo. hubiese preferido que elabore más respecto a algunos autores que nombra pero está bien para introducirte al tema.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burke's writing is thankfully very accessible and readable, which is really what you want when seeking to learn about historical theoretical perspectives and methods!! Overall, a great overview of the Annales school.

[Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una historia critica y fascinante de las contribuciones de la escuela de los annales a la historiografía. Un repaso de sus 4 generaciones, con mucho énfasis en las primeras tres, Bloch y Lefbvre; Braudel y Labrousse; Le Goff, Duby, etc. Muy recomendable.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Burke provides a chronology of the French Annales School of History that revolutionized the field of history from 1929-1989. He organizes his discussion by setting the stage for historiography at the beginning of the 20th century, then proceeds to suggest how the Annales movement departed from it: first, second, and third generations. His final chapter considers their influence in a global perspective. Overall, it is a very tidy way to get a foundational and fundamental understanding of an extremely influential movement in twentieth century historiography.

Although the “Annales School” of historiography has over eighty years of nuanced development that has taken the movement in several directions, this review will focus on chronicling the movement’s contributions to considering environmental factors in historiography. As Peter Burke has explained it in The French Historical Revolution: The Annales School, 1929-1989 (1990), Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch founded the Annales journal in 1929 �“in order to promote a new kind of social history.” Among other things, the Annales School substituted “a problem-oriented analytical history for a traditional narrative of events,” embraced a “total history” of the human activities in a place rather than just political ones, and encouraged collaboration with other disciplines such as geography, sociology, psychology, economics, linguistics, and social anthropology. Although outsiders commonly refer to Annales as a “school,” Burke suggests that it be termed the Annales movement in order to better acknowledge the divergent directions individual members of the group took in their publications. One such direction of the Annales movement precipitated the innovative method of situating historical societies within their geographic contexts.

Beginning with Lucien Febvre but institutionalized particularly by Fernand Braudel, geographical introductions to provincial monographs became a common practice in the Annales movement by the 1960s. In critical response to the German geographer Ratzel who “stressed the influence of the physical environment on human destiny,” Febvre stressed the greater historical influence of human liberty over geographical determinism. For Febvre “there were no necessities, only possibilities;” he argued that a river might have been considered a barrier or a route depending upon what a society made of it. In other words, geography might affect certain social, economic, and political decisions, but it did not completely cause them. Braudel, on the other hand, saw things differently than his mentor.

Among his chief contributions to the legacy of the Annales movement, Fernand Braudel demonstrated that geography helped to shape the social, political, and economic events of human societies. He divided his doctoral thesis The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (1949), a work of some 600,000 words, into three parts each with a unique approach to understanding change over time. The first and most innovative part dealt with “a history whose passage is almost imperceptible . . . a history in which all change is slow, a history of constant repetition, ever-recurring cycles.” In The Mediterranean, Braudel stressed the importance of the history “of man in his relationship to the environment.” Due to the shared coastal sea climate and its associated economy based on wines and olives, the Mediterranean environment produced a more coherent unity in the geographical region than that of the political boundaries of Europe. What Braudel called “geo-history” revealed a new way of thinking about historical causation and environmental determinism that departed from his mentor’s model where human agency was the primary determinant of social and political action.

Although Braudel did not completely advocate a simplistic model of environmental determinism, he did emphasize it as a stronger force than human agency. In his bibliographical essay, Braudel acknowledges his indebtedness to the French geographical school, particularly Vidal de la Blache, as well as to Lucien Febvre for his writings on historical geography including his geographical introduction to his thesis on Philip II and Franche-Comte. Unlike Febvre who saw “structures as enabling as well as constraining,” however, Braudel emphasized the power of environmental determinism over human voluntarism. Burke speculates that this bias towards determinism by the repeated use of portraying man as a “prisoner” to his physical environment may readily be attributed to the fact that much of the writing of The Mediterranean took place while Braudel was imprisoned during World War II. In other words, it makes sense that Braudel saw individual agency as a severely limited, if not impotent, power compared to larger frameworks—including that of the environment—that operate beyond the control of the individual and the collective population. Braudel’s geo-history method became a common model not only in France but also in many other parts of the world. According to Burke, however, American historians did not seem to be significantly influenced by it or receptive to it.

[João Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introdução à historiografia francesa do século XX

[Alan Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read and a good introduction to the Annales school of history.

[xsestrax · Rating 5 out of 5]

febvre y blach mi nuevo ship

[Francisco Gerlach · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great deep dive in historiographical theory.

[Ruan Oliveira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didático

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has good information on the Annales School & is presented in a way that's interesting. Not my cup of tea but if it's something you're interested in, this is a good book to pick up!

[Emerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

La escuela de los QUÉ 😳

[Mirino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marc Bloch haunting the narrative

[Juan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice overview of the evolution of the Annales school, from its inception up to the 70’s. It sketches the mayor trends and ideas in the evolution of the school based on the books (not the journal articles) written by key figures. As the author himself notes, it is a modest and impressionistic account of the history of the Annales, however, it is very well structured and has a lot of references. I think it paints a very useful map for further research, and I will definitely come back to parts of it.

[Jessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most interesting point in this book was the way the French Annales school of thought began to popularize the use of interdiciplinary approaches to the study of history. As all teachers know, bringing the use of other subjects into the understanding of one makes learning last. Concerning history this is especially important as history is often seen best through the perspectives that other disciplines can give.

[Alexia ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my Introduction to Historical Studies class. I wasn't expecting it to be that interesting, but it wasn't that bad.

I personally found Peter Burke writing to be quite easy to understand to the usual history student and I also found interesting how he exposes the several generations of the Annales School.

[Supriyo Chaudhuri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is short and succinct introduction to the French Annales school, from its founding generation of Lucien Fevre and Marc Bloch, through the great works of Fernand Braude and to later generations of historians, experimenting with newer forms of narrative history and bringing politics back into history.