FA 2015 20.7 Microhistory

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Jama wrote: "I just want to confirm that Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo works. It is listed in the linked lists.

T..."

Yes, as it focuses on a specific city.

[Anika]

Can't decide! So I have a list of them that I'd love to get okayed to help me figure out which I want to read...

Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America
Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession
Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements
Color: A Natural History of the Palette
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
Hotel Stories: Legendary Hideaways of the World

hopefully at least ONE of these will work!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Anika wrote: "Can't decide! So I have a list of them that I'd love to get okayed to help me figure out which I want to read...

Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America

I don't think we'll be much help in making a decision - all of those work. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession is marginal. It focuses as much on one person as it does on the world of book collecting.

[Lagullande]

I'm unclear where the line is drawn for this task, so thought it best to check in advance.

My first title is Waterloo: The True Story of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles. Does it qualify as being a book that "focus[es] on a specific...event"? I initially thought it would be just history, and not micro-history, but does it fall into the same camp as Karen Michele's Empires Of The Sea: The Final Battle For The Mediterranean, 1521-1580 (approved in message 11)?

My second title is Love Game: A History of Tennis, from Victorian Pastime to Global Phenomenon, which I think looks more hopeful, or is the time span too broad?

Many thanks

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Lagullande wrote: "I'm unclear where the line is drawn for this task, so thought it best to check in advance.

My first title is Waterloo: The True Story of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles. ..."

Those both work. Waterloo, because it is such a small snippet of the French Revolution. Love Game also works. It isn't the time span for this one, but the focus on the one sport to the exclusion of others.

[Lagullande]

Fabulous. Thanks, Elizabeth :-)

[Kazen]

Would The Cloudspotter's Guide work for this task?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Kazen wrote: "Would The Cloudspotter's Guide work for this task?"

Yes - enjoy!

[Denise]

Carlo Ginzburg is one of the pioneers of microhistory - is his classic The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-century Miller acceptable for the task?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

D wrote: "Carlo Ginzburg is one of the pioneers of microhistory - is his classic The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-century Miller acceptable for the task?"

Yes, this works for this task.

[Denise]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "D wrote: "Carlo Ginzburg is one of the pioneers of microhistory - is his classic The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-century Miller acceptable for the ta..."

Thank you!

[Anika]

I just found out about this book and am dying to read it, curious if it fits this category:

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari, co-authored by NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg...
it's an in-depth look at what I guess you could call "modern courtship"...how we meet, date, fall in love and how technology has changed that...

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Anika wrote: "I just found out about this book and am dying to read it, curious if it fits this category:

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari...
it's an in-depth sociological study th..."

Yes - can't wait to read your review!

[Connie]

I want to confirm that Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (about the peace treaties after WWI) would work. It's on the GR list, "Microhistory: Social History of Just One Thing".

Another one that looked interesting was The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Connie wrote: "I want to confirm that Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (about the peace treaties after WWI) would work. It's on the GR list, "Microhistory: Social History of Just One T..."

Yes, both of those work.

[Connie]

Thanks, Elizabeth.

[Louise Bro]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Theresa~OctoberLace wrote: "Can I get approval for The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales? It's on one of the lists indicated and focuses on true stories of pe..."

Parallel to this, would Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain qualify? It is on the interplay between the brain and music.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Louise Bro wrote: "Parallel to this, would Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain qualify? It is on the interplay between the brain and music. "

Yes. Although I don't see much "history" in the description, this seems to be in the spirit of the task.

[Krista]

Okay -- I'm almost to the top of the 'Hold' queue for the CD audiobook version of The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Would this title work for this task?

Thanks for checking!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Krista wrote: "Okay -- I'm almost to the top of the 'Hold' queue for the CD audiobook version of The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Wo..."

Yes, that works, Krista!

[Rebekah]

Not sure if I'll get to these but on the off chance, what about The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language by Melvyn Bragg
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English by John McWhorter

And I'm now reading This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate. Since it does go back thru history about man - made climate change, and previous attempts to do something about it, would it count?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Yes, those work, Rebekah.

[Krista]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Krista wrote: "Okay -- I'm almost to the top of the 'Hold' queue for the CD audiobook version of [book:The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics..."

Thanks!

[Sam]

Would The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon work for this task?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Sam wrote: "Would The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon work for this task?"

Yes!

[Sam]

Thanks! :)