People's history

Main article: Social history

A people's history or history from below[1] is a type of historical narrative which attempts to account for historical events from the perspective of common people rather than political and other leaders.

Contents

Description

A people's history (otherwise known as social history) is the history of the world that is the story of mass movements and of the outsiders. Individuals not included in the past in other type of writing about history are part of history-from-below theory's primary focus, which includes the disenfranchised, the oppressed, the poor, the nonconformists, the subaltern and the otherwise forgotten people. This theory also usually focuses on events occurring in the fullness of time, or when an overwhelming wave of smaller events cause certain developments to occur.

This revisionist approach to writing history is in direct opposition to methods which tend to emphasize single great figures in history, referred to as the great man theory; it argues that the driving factor of history is the daily life of ordinary people, their social status and profession. These are the factors that "push and pull" on opinions and allow for trends to develop, as opposed to great people introducing ideas or initiating events.

In his book A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn wrote: "The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, most often repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and dominated in race and sex. And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners."[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ E. P. Thompson, “History from Below,” Times Literary Supplement, 7 April 1966, 279-80.
  2. ^ chapter: Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress

Further reading

  • A People's History of England by A. L. Morton (Victor Gollancz: London, 1938)
  • A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn (London; New York: Longman, 1980)
  • A People's History of the United States (in 8 volumes) by Page Smith (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976–1987)
  • A People's History of the Supreme Court by Peter Irons (New York: Viking, 1999)
  • A People's History of the World by Chris Harman (London: Bookmarks, 1999)
  • A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence by Ray Raphael (New York: New Press, 2001)
  • The Congo: From Leopold to Kabila: A People's History by Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja (London, NY: Zed, 2002)
  • A People's History of the Vietnam War by Jonathan Neale (New York: New Press, 2003)
  • The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome by Michael Parenti (New York : New Press, 2003)
  • A History of the Swedish People, Vol. 1: From Prehistory to the Renaissance by Vilhelm Moberg (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005)
  • A History of the Swedish People, Vol. 2: From Renaissance to Revolution by Vilhelm Moberg (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005)
  • A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and "Low Mechaniks" by Clifford D. Conner (New York: Nation, 2005)
  • A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom by David Williams (New York: New Press, 2005)
  • A People's History of the Mexican Revolution by Adolfo Gilly (New York, NY: New Press, 2005)
  • Christian Origins: A People's History of Christianity, Vol. 1 by Richard A. Horsley (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005)
  • Late Ancient Christianity: A People's History of Christianity, Vol. 2 by Virginia Burrus (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005)
  • The English Civil War: A People's History by Diane Purkiss (New York: Basic Books, 2006)
  • Reformation Christianity: A People's History of Christianity by Peter Matheson and Denis R. Janz (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007)
  • The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World by Vijay Prashad (New York: New Press: W.W. Norton, 2007)
  • A People’s History of Poverty in America by Stephen Pimpare (New York: New Press ; London : Turnaround, 2008)
  • A People’s History of Sports in the United States by Dave Zirin (New York; London: New Press, c2008)
  • A People's History of Florida 1513-1876: How Africans, Seminoles, Women, and Lower Class Whites Shaped the Sunshine State by Adam Wasserman (Florida: Adam Wasserman, 2009)
  • The Blood Never Dried: A People's History of the British Empire by John Newsinger (London: Bookmarks, 2009)
  • A Renegade History of the United States by Thaddeus Russell (New York: Free Press, 2010)

External articles