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

Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play
The Secret Life of a Cemetery: The Wild Nature and Enchanting Lore of Père-Lachaise
Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America’s Cemeteries
Maintenance of Everything: Part One
Human History on Drugs: An Utterly Scandalous but Entirely Truthful Look at History Under the Influence
The Phantom Plague: How Tuberculosis Shaped History
Worn: A People's History of Clothing
Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder
Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World: A History
How Queer Bookshops Changed the World
Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry
The Genius Bat: The Secret Life of the Only Flying Mammal
The Kingdom of Prep: The Inside Story of the Rise and (Near) Fall of J.Crew
The Core of an Onion: Peeling the Rarest Common Food―Featuring More Than 100 Historical Recipes
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
Color: A Natural History of the Palette
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
Paper: Paging Through History
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
Stiff by Mary RoachThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca SklootSalt by Mark KurlanskyEats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne TrussThe Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
You Read a Book about What?
4,203 books — 2,569 voters
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca SklootStiff by Mary RoachThe Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha MukherjeeThe Great Influenza by John M. BarryThe Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
Medical Microhistories
99 books — 94 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
380 books — 386 voters
Lucky by Scott NelsonThe Removable Root Cause of Cancers and other Chronic Diseases  by Paul OlaGRINGOS AND FLAMINGOS  by Scott  L. NelsonCommon Sense Ain’t So Common by Scott  L. NelsonThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Fascinating Non-Fiction
143 books — 40 voters

Sisters by John J. FialkaThe Mass by Guy OuryGothic Pride by Brian ReganThe Last Great Acts of Saint Peter  by Edward N BrownDeception and Dominion by Re'tzon Ha'el
Catholic Microhistories (nonfiction)
40 books — 6 voters
Orphan Train by Christina Baker KlineThe Frozen River by Ariel LawhonBurial Rites by Hannah KentPeople of the Book by Geraldine BrooksAlias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Micro-Historical Fiction
136 books — 19 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