The "New" Social History in the Context of American Historical Writing

Abstract

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The Rise of African American Intellectual History

“…Instead what is pursued is demographic history, urban history, the history of the family, of women, blacks, Chicanos, or native Americans …The society … is hardly ever studied." 68 While Veysey accepted that intellectual history needed improvement, he complained that it was under attack, particularly by "Leftists," as "'minority' history of the wrong kind, reflecting the values of elites rather than of downtrodden groups." He praised social historians' innovative methods, discoveries, and attention to the "problems of representativeness in evidence," but implied that social history could easily become too narrow or unrepresentative of "the society."…”

Historical Culture, Public History, and Education in Germany and the United States of America. A Comparative Introduction to Basic Concepts and Fields of Research

“…A consequence of this emergence of new social, feminist, and black histories was a new interest in ordinary people. 30 More and more, historians rejected the conventional practice of writing history of "great men" -of politicians, thinkers and generals. A striking symbol for this newfound interest of historians in the history of ordinary people was the approach of oral history.…”

The Shock of the “‘New’ (Histories)”

“…Among a large, often ungainly literature, see Aydelotte 1971;Benson 1972;Berkhofer 1969;Bogue 1973Bogue , 1983Bogue , 1986Bogue , 1987Bogue andClubb 1977a, 1977b;Aydelotte et al 1972;Fogel 1975Fogel , 1983Kammen 1980;Kousser 1977Kousser , 1980Kousser , 1984Kousser , 1989Landes and C.Tilly 1971;Lorwin and Price 1972;Reynolds 1998;Stearns 1980. See also Bender 1986Handlin 1971Handlin , 1975Handlin , 1979Hexter 1970Hexter , 1971aHexter , 1971bHimmelfarb 1975Himmelfarb , 1984Himmelfarb , 1987Monkkonen 1986;Munslow 1997;Novick 1988;Ross 1998;Schlesinger 1962;Scott 1988Scott , 1991Stone 1977Stone , 1987Thelen 1987;Veysey 1979aVeysey , 1979b. M. J. Maynes gave some unpublished remarks on this topic at the SSHA meeting in Chicago, November, 1998.…”