Task 10: A Microhistory

[Sarah]

I read "Chaucer’s Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury " and it focused on that specific year of Chaucer's life and the culture and economic structure of society at the time. Does this count as a microhistory?

[Bea]

I read The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-century Miller, which has been reported to be a definitive example of a microhistory. I also read At Home: A Short History of Private Life, which, although listed in BR's site as an example, does not meet the strict definition of microhistory.

I see the difference. For me, The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-century Miller was a much more scholarly look at one man's assertations before the inquisition (very narrow focus) while At Home: A Short History of Private Life located itself in a home (narrow focus) but ranged the world in topic discussion sparked by the room of the home.

[Warren]

Does any of these count?

[Melanie]

I can't remember which list gave me the idea, but I am reading Wonder Woman Unboud. It is the history of the Wonder Woman comics. I am not running through it like I would a fiction book. I read a chapter or segment then put it down and read something else, but it is a fascinating topic and I am enjoying it a lot.

[Leslie]

Kate wrote: "Just joining the challenge and hoping that the last book I read, The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough, counts. It was excellent about not only their flight, but about the competition for flight..."

Well, Did you find out-is it a micro history?

[Warren]

Rainey wrote: " I plan on reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers or

[..."

I highly recommend Stiff. What a fun read.

[Karen]

Ridiculously confused about what a microhistory is, but I just finished Zarafa: A Giraffe's True Story, from Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris by Michael Allin and that is what I'm using. It is the story of Mohammed Ali's gift of a giraffe to Charles X in the early nineteenth century in exchange for French support in Ali's marauding wars across the Middle East and Europe. A good read.

[Vanessa]

Warren wrote: "Rainey wrote: " I plan on reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers or [bookcover:Slots: Praying to the God of Chan..."

Stiff was really good.

[Lea]

I want to try an Audiobook for this challenge, any suggestions on a good listen? Thanks!

[Courtney]

I read for my microhistory.

Wasn't too bad if you enjoy historical science.

[Amy]

I read Just My Type: A Book About Fonts. It was interesting and skimmable and perfect for graphic design lovers. The author is definitely a little geeked out about stuff many would find snooze-worthy, hence the skimming. It's relatively short and nicely broken up in consumable chapters.

[Kirsty]

I readThe Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective which is about a grisly Victorian murder and the history of the detective.

[Mark]

Columbine is really well written and I'd encourage people to read that if they are still looking for a book for this task.
If I was allowing myself to do re-reads for this challenge I would read it again.


I'll take another one from Rebecca's list and go for A Night to Remember.

[Angela]

Would Memoir of a Debulked Woman by Susan Gubar work for this genre?

[Rebecca]

- interesting period - but the two stories are not really that related but still both individually were interesting.

[Bonnie G.]

Mark wrote: "Columbine is really well written and I'd encourage people to read that if they are still looking for a book for this task.
If I was allowing myself to do re-reads for this challenge ..."

I absolutely agree with you. Brilliant book, great reporting.

[Michele]

I counted as a microhistory. It's about the School of Paris, but mostly about Soutine.

[Beachesnbooks]

I read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach for this challenge. I thought it was interesting and learned a lot, but didn't love it. It was 3 stars for me.

[Britany]

Finished by Rebecca Skloot- 4 Stars!!

Powerful true story about one woman's journey to immortality using her cancerous cells- taken without her permission. In my opinion, one that everyone MUST read!

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Y_M_A]

I just started reading this for the microhistory task. So far, so good. Very intriguing.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Caro]

So if amicrohistory is Microhistory is the intensive historical investigation of a well-defined smaller unit of research (most often a single event, the community of a village, or an individual). I guess I can go with The Witches: Salem, 1692, right?

[Karin]

Caro wrote: "So if amicrohistory is Microhistory is the intensive historical investigation of a well-defined smaller unit of research (most often a single event, the community of a village, or an individual). I..."

I'm wondering the same thing. I'd like to read it for this category if so.

[Nancy]

I read Behind the Beautiful Forevers, which may not strictly be microhistory (although I did find it on some lists). It's a detailed look at life in the slums of Mumbai, India, over a period of several years. The author concentrates on a couple of families and other individuals, showing how they hope and try to better themselves despite being caught in an overwhelming web of corruption that often thwarts their best efforts to make even the slightest change. Sad to say, but that's probably a story that's all too common just about everywhere, not just in this one location.

[Jeannette]

Like a lot of other readers, I used a Mary Roach book for this challenge: Spook. I didn't like it as much as others I've read by her, but it was interesting!

[Rebecca]

I'm finally reading Linda Gordon's The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction as the year rounds up. It opens with the line from Blake "To See the World in a grain of sand". It's definitely microhistorical: telling the story of a bizarre case when a group of Anglo settlers abducted a group of Irish orphans who had been placed in homes with Mexicans in Arizona by a Catholic foundling home in NYC in 1904. It alternates between the events in a few days in October 1904 and the detailed explanation of context such as "The Anglo Mothers and the Company Town." It's super scholarly and readable by a general audience, a rare achievement.

[Ashley]

Would The Haunting of America: From the Salem Witch Trials to Harry Houdini qualify as a micro history?

[Rebecca]

Ashley wrote: "Would The Haunting of America: From the Salem Witch Trials to Harry Houdini qualify as a micro history?"
if you are going by the historians' definition, no. That would be covering a single thing over a very long time period. Microhistory typically concentrates on a single time period, a small number of people, and takes place in a specific space. So a book on the Salem Witch Trials OR a book on Harry Houdini in a particular moment, like the recent The Witch of Lime Street: Séance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World would fit the general understandings of historians, but not a book that covered ideas about ghosts in the U.S. over a 200 year period. The defining "micro" categories are usually time, space and number of people involved.

[Ashley]

Thanks, Rebecca! I wasn't sure how narrow the topic would need to be to be a microhistory.

[Rachel]

This is not a genre I have any interest in at all, but I decided to go with Poseidon's Steed: The Story of Seahorses, from Myth to Reality. I wonder if it's just coincidence that the author's last name is "Scales"?