Letters to the Editor of Dædalus

On history in the twentieth The geographical expansion of histo- ry brought most of the world into his- century Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/daed/article-pdf/135/3/123/1829121/daed.2006.135.3.123.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 tory courses. It also created new views May 10, 2006 of world and comparative history. World historians like William McNeill, Leftan Stavrianos, and Marshall Hodgson To the Editor: brought differing novel approaches to Anthony Grafton’s essay, “History’s many aspects of world history, a growing postmodern fates,” in the Spring 2006 ½eld that challenged the privileging of issue of Dædalus was interesting and in- the West over the rest that characterized formative, but I share neither his pessi- earlier writings and theories regarding mism about the fate of history nor his global history. Elements of Marxism limited view of important twentieth- were important in post–World War II century developments. In summarizing schools founded by social scientists but other trends among historians in the adopted by many historians–Depen- United States, I will also focus on the dency Theory, which originated in Lat- post–World War II period. More works in America, and World Systems Theory, deserve mention if readers are to avoid a which was begun by Immanuel Waller- restricted view of history in this period. stein and divided the modern world into Grafton covers major works by micro- a changing core, a semi-periphery, and historians, especially Carlo Ginzburg, a periphery, with the former exploiting Natalie Davis, and Robert Darnton, and the latter. World-oriented historians discusses some contributions by Law- have often focused on trade, conquest, rence Stone and Emmanuel Le Roy La- and migration as transnational forces: durie. He mentions other giants of his- Many study trade regions–the Mediter- tory like William McNeill and C. Van ranean, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, Woodward, but not their main contri- and the so-called Silk Route. Migration butions. I can suggest some additional and conquest sometimes create diaspo- accomplishments and controversies. ras, another topic of research. Postwar politics–from huac investi- While European history remained a gations and loyalty oaths to mass move- pioneer, the rapid development of non- ments against war and for civil, wom- Western history brought them a new en’s, and gay rights–affected the per- range and sophistication that could have sonnel and content of historical studies. had more impact had more historians A leftward turn among students, with paid attention. Joseph R. Levenson many choosing academe over more lu- brought a subtlety and sophistication crative professions, changed history de- to Chinese intellectual history matched partments from their former largely con- only by Benjamin I. Schwartz. Another servative white male character. historical giant was Thomas C. Smith.

Dædalus Summer 2006 123 Letters to His early works analyzed the develop- The Peculiar Institution, which overthrew the Editor ment of industry and agriculture in the dominant view of benevolent slav- modern Japan, ½nding many parallels ery, and proceeding through the works to Western Europe. Smith later applied of Eugene Genovese, which saw slavery demographic methods pioneered by the as part of an interlocking social and cul- Cambridge Group in England and found tural system. Recent examples include signi½cant parallels to Western trends. Ira Berlin’s Generations of Captivity and Indian and South Asian history have Eric Foner’s works on Reconstruction. flourished, with an emphasis on theory David Brion Davis has pioneered in

–often postmodern and/or postcolonial many, including cultural and compara- Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/daed/article-pdf/135/3/123/1829121/daed.2006.135.3.123.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 –which have been welcomed by some tive, aspects of the history of slavery. and contested by others like Richard Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman Eaton. Partha Chatterjee’s view of the brought a novel mathematical econom- nation and nationalism is popular ic history approach to slavery in Time on among historians of the global South. the Cross. Some economic historians fol- Studies of major historical empires lowed their combination of ‘what if’ his- have also become signi½cant. Historians tory with mathematics into ‘counterfac- of the Middle East have revised many tual history,’ while others pursued the earlier views, especially of the Ottoman mathematics without the ‘what if.’ Eco- Empire. For example, there has been a nomic historians who came from history reaction against the view of Ottoman departments rather than economics de- decline from the late sixteenth century partments tended rather to stress social, on, with many writing only of a relative geographic, and cultural factors. decline as compared to that of the Euro- The intersection of economic history pean Northwest. The imperial harem, with ecological and demographic history often blamed for the alleged decline, has has flourished in recent decades. For in- been rehabilitated in Leslie Peirce’s The stance, many works on disease have fol- Imperial Harem, which also revises views lowed Woodrow Borah’s work on Latin of how the empire was governed. America’s drastic population decline History has expanded to cover coun- owing to the conquerors’ diseases. Al- tries without writing or with writing sys- fred Crosby’s Ecological Imperialism is a tems that did not cover as much as did leading work on ecological history. those of much of Eurasia. Methods for Among subjects crossing geographical using oral history were pioneered by Jan boundaries, women’s history stands out Vansina; historical linguistics to meas- for its contributions and for encouraging ure migration and material culture, by the development of other ½elds–gender, Christopher Ehret and others; and the family, male, and gay history. Gerda use of living languages to supplement Lerner, Natalie Davis, and Joan Scott are incomplete writings, by James Lockhart. among its several pioneers. In gay histo- Such methods are mainly used for Africa ry, George Chauncey’s Gay New York goes and the Americas. beyond its title in discussing varieties of U.S. history since the 1950s has ex- homosexual culture and practice. Gen- panded in many directions, notably revi- eral histories can no longer ignore gen- sion of views of slavery, Reconstruction, der, though their mode of incorporating and black history: beginning with the it is not always sophisticated or ade- works of W. E. B. DuBois and John Hope quate. The study of women and gender Franklin, and then Kenneth Stampp’s has extended to all parts of the world:

124 Dædalus Summer 2006 three winners of the relevant aha Joan approaches to understanding the past, On history in the Kelly prize since 1997 were books about and the writers I have known have been twentieth China, Syria, and Iran. enthusiastic, not bored. Surveying the century Also popular have been histories of varieties of twentieth-century history human relations to the nonhuman– seems more a cause for optimism than often to commodities. There has been a the opposite. rise in writing about consumption and a relative decline in writing about pro- –Nikki R. Keddie duction, although both the history of technology and of modes of production Nikki R. Keddie, a Fellow of the American Acad- Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/daed/article-pdf/135/3/123/1829121/daed.2006.135.3.123.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 have received some attention. emy since 1994, is professor emerita of history at In various ½elds number crunching, the University of California, Los Angeles. She has aided by computers, has yielded infor- written numerous publications, including “Mod- mation about the social and economic ern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution” (new history of people for whom we have ed., 2006) and “Women in the Middle East: Past scant records. Other novel methodol- and Present” (2006). Keddie was founding editor ogies, such as the Freudian psychohis- of “Contention: Debates in Society, Culture and tory of Peter Loewenberg, also have ad- Science” from 1991 to 1996. A longer version of herents. Many historians use new me- this letter with citations is at http://nikkikeddie. dia, chiefly audio and visual records of blogspot.com/2006/05/history-writing-in-us- individuals, events, and material culture. since-world-war.html. The history of science and medicine has become a major ½eld in many histo- ry departments. Thomas Kuhn’s semi- June 1, 2006 nal Structure of Scienti½c Revolutions was written when he was in uc Berkeley’s Anthony Grafton responds: History Department. In addition to the usual intra½eld controversies, there are One point of my piece was that argu- disagreements between scientists, who ment is the lifeblood of history. Profes- often see their history as a progressive sor Keddie’s response nicely bears this discovery of scienti½c laws and theories, out. In fact, I didn’t set out to survey the and historians, who stress the social and ½eld, and my original draft was in any cultural aspects of science. case much compressed to ½t this issue On the theoretical side, a few books of Dædalus. So I don’t propose to argue with different approaches have been in- with Professor Keddie, who offers a dif- fluential, notably, E. J. Carr’s What is His- ferent point of view and much supple- tory? which combined a quasi-Marxist mentary information. I only wish I approach with relativism toward what could share Professor Keddie’s optimism is important in different periods. For about the condition of our discipline– more relativist postmodernists, Hayden especially as I too work with many gifted White’s Metahistory is important, while and eager students at all levels. But there Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, and Marga- too, it’s salutary to have two points of ret Jacobs’ Telling the Truth about History view expounded. combines a partially postmodern approach with others. The students I have known have been interested in controversy and in diverse

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