HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A people's history, or history from below, is a type of
historical narrative History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
which attempts to account for historical events from the perspective of
common people A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...
rather than leaders. There is an emphasis on
disenfranchised Disfranchisement, also called disenfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. D ...
, the
oppressed Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination w ...
, the poor, the nonconformists, and otherwise marginal groups. The authors are typically on the left and have a Marxist model in mind, as in the approach of the
History Workshop The ''History Workshop Journal'' is a British academic history journal published by Oxford University Press. ''History Workshop'' was founded in 1976 by Raphael Samuel and others involved in the History Workshop movement. Originally sub-titled " ...
movement in Britain in the 1960s.


"History from below" and "people's history"

Lucien Febvre Lucien Paul Victor Febvre (, ; 22 July 1878 – 11 September 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. He was the initial editor of the '' Encyclopédie française'' together wi ...
first used the phrase "histoire vue d'en bas et non d'en haut" (history seen from below and not from above) in 1932 when praising
Albert Mathiez Albert-Xavier-Émile Mathiez (; 10 January 1874 – 25 February 1932) was a French historian, best known for his Marxist interpretation of the French Revolution. Mathiez emphasized class conflict. He argued that 1789 pitted the bourgeoisie against ...
for seeking to tell the "histoire des masses et non de vedettes" (history of the masses and not of starlets). It was also used in the title of
A. L. Morton Arthur Leslie Morton (4 July 1903 – 23 October 1987) was an English Marxist historian. He worked as an independent scholar; from 1946 onwards he was the Chair of the Historians Group of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). He is be ...
's 1938 book, ''A People's History of England''. Yet it was
E. P. Thompson Edward Palmer Thompson (3 February 1924 – 28 August 1993) was an English historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner. He is best known today for his historical work on the radical movements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in ...
's essay ''History from Below'' in ''
The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...
'' (1966) which brought the phrase to the forefront of historiography from the 1970s. It was popularized among non-historians by Howard Zinn's 1980 book, '' A People's History of the United States''.


Description

A people's history is the history as 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 Disfranchisement, also called disenfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. D ...
, the
oppressed Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination w ...
, the
poor Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little , the nonconformists, the subaltern and the otherwise forgotten people. This theory also usually focuses on events occurring in the French Revolution, 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 A profession is a field of work that has been successfully '' professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, ''professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by ...
. 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 Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political scien ...
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 walks, 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."


Criticism

Historian
Guy Beiner Guy Beiner (born in 1968 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli historian of the late-modern period. He was formerly a full professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, Israel. In September 2021, he was named the Sullivan Chair in Irish ...
wrote that "the Neo-Marxist flag-bearers of history from below have at times resorted to idealized and insufficiently sophisticated notions of 'the people', unduly ascribing to them innate progressive values. In practice, democratic history is by no means egalitarian".Guy Beiner
Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster (Oxford University Press, 2018)
pp. 9.


See also

*
Social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...
*'' Canada: A People's History'' (television documentary series) *
George Rudé George Rudé (8 February 1910 – 8 January 1993) was a British Marxist historian, specializing in the French Revolution and " history from below", especially the importance of crowds in history.George Rudé (1964). ''The Crowd in History. A S ...
*
Chris Harman Chris Harman (8 November 1942 – 7 November 2009) was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He was an editor of '' International Socialism'' and ''Socialist Wor ...
*
Marxist historiography Marxist historiography, or historical materialist historiography, is an influential school of historiography. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography include the centrality of social class, social relations of production in class-divided soc ...
*
New labor history New labor history is a branch of labor history which focuses on the experiences of workers, women, and minorities in the study of history. It is heavily influenced by social history. Before the 1960s, most labor historians around the world focuse ...
*
Subaltern (postcolonialism) In postcolonial studies and in critical theory, the term subaltern designates and identifies the colonial populations who are socially, politically, and geographically excluded from the hierarchy of power of an imperial colony and from the met ...


References


Further reading

* ''A People's History of England'' by
A. L. Morton Arthur Leslie Morton (4 July 1903 – 23 October 1987) was an English Marxist historian. He worked as an independent scholar; from 1946 onwards he was the Chair of the Historians Group of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). He is be ...
(Victor Gollancz: London, 1938) * * ''
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States ''An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States'' is a non-fiction book written by the historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and published by Beacon Press. It is the third of a series of six ReVisioning books which reconstruct and reinterpret U.S ...
'' by
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (born September 10, 1938) is an American historian, writer, and activist, known for her 2014 book '' An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States''. Early life and education Born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1938 to ...
(Washington; Beacon Press, 2014) * ''A People's History of the United States (in 8 volumes) by
Page Smith Page Smith (September 6, 1917 – August 28, 1995) was an American historian, professor and author. In 1964 became the founding Provost of Cowell College, University of California, Santa Cruz and resigned from the university in 1973 in prote ...
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976–1987) * ''A People's History of the Supreme Court'' by
Peter Irons Peter H. Irons (born August 11, 1940) is an American political activist, civil rights attorney, legal scholar, and professor emeritus of political science. He has written many books on the U.S. Supreme Court and constitutional litigation. Educ ...
(New York: Viking, 1999) * ''A People's History of the World'' by
Chris Harman Chris Harman (8 November 1942 – 7 November 2009) was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He was an editor of '' International Socialism'' and ''Socialist Wor ...
(London: Bookmarks, 1999) * ''A People's History of the Second World War'' by
Donny Gluckstein Donny Gluckstein (born 1954) is a British historian at Edinburgh College. He went to the University of Warwick in 1974 and graduated in history. The son of Tony Cliff and Chanie Rosenberg, he is the author of numerous books and articles. In 20 ...
(Pluto Press, 2012) * ''A People's History of World War II'' by
Marc Favreau Marc Favreau (Sol), (November 9, 1929 – December 17, 2005) was a Quebecois television and film actor and poet. Favreau began his television career as a regular on '' La Boîte à surprise'', a long-running children's television show on Radio-C ...
(New press, 2011) * ''The Hundred Years War: A People's History'' by
David green David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
(Yale University Press, 2014) * ''A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence'' by
Ray Raphael Ray Raphael (born April 19, 1943) is an American historian and author of twenty books. He is noted for his work on the American Revolution, the Constitution, and the regional history of Northern California. American Revolution In 2001, Raphael' ...
(New York: New Press, 2001) *''The Congo: From Leopold to Kabila: A People's History'' by
Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja Georges may refer to: Places *Georges River, New South Wales, Australia *Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 1977 ...
(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 Michael John Parenti (born September 30, 1933) is an American political scientist, academic historian and cultural critic who writes on scholarly and popular subjects. He has taught at universities as well as run for political office. Parenti i ...
(New York : New Press, 2003) *''A History of the Swedish People, Vol. 1: From Prehistory to the Renaissance'' by
Vilhelm Moberg Karl Artur Vilhelm Moberg (20 August 1898 – 8 August 1973) was a Swedish journalist, author, playwright, historian, and debater. His literary career, spanning more than 45 years, is associated with his series ''The Emigrants''. The four ...
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005) *''A History of the Swedish People, Vol. 2: From Renaissance to Revolution'' by
Vilhelm Moberg Karl Artur Vilhelm Moberg (20 August 1898 – 8 August 1973) was a Swedish journalist, author, playwright, historian, and debater. His literary career, spanning more than 45 years, is associated with his series ''The Emigrants''. The four ...
(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 Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924'' by
Orlando Figes Orlando Guy Figes () is a British historian and writer. Until his retirement, he was Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. Figes is known for his works on Russian history, such as '' A People's Tragedy'' (1996), ''Nat ...
(Penguin Books, 1998) * ''A People's History of the Mexican Revolution'' by
Adolfo Gilly Adolfo Atilio Gilly Malvagni (born 1928) is an author of various books on the history of and politics of Mexico and Latin America and professor of History and Political Science at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the Universidad Nac ...
(New York, NY: New Press, 2005) * ''A People's History of the French Revolution'' by
Eric Hazan The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
(Verso, 2014) * ''A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story'' by
Dianna Butler Bass Dianna is a female given name. Originally an alternative spelling of the form Diana with two Ns, meaning "heavenly, divine". People with this name include: * Dianna Agron (born 1986), American actress, singer, and dancer * Dianna Booher, American ...
(Harper One, 2010) *''Christian Origins: A People's History of Christianity, Vol. 1'' by
Richard A. Horsley Richard A. Horsley was the Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts Boston until his retirement in 2007. He described his view of the historical Jesus in these words (''Jesus'' ''and the ...
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005) *''Late Ancient Christianity: A People's History of Christianity, Vol. 2'' by
Virginia Burrus Virginia Burrus is an American scholar of Late Antiquity and expert on gender, sexuality and religion. She is currently the Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor of Religion and director of graduate studies at Syracuse University. Education Origin ...
(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 Vijay Prashad is an Indian Marxist historian and commentator. He is an executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, the Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, and a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Finan ...
(New York: New Press: W.W. Norton, 2007) *''A History of the Arab Peoples'' by
Albert Hourani Albert Habib Hourani ( ar, ألبرت حبيب حوراني ''Albart Ḥabīb Ḥūrānī''; 31 March 1915 – 17 January 1993) was a Lebanese British historian, specialising in the history of the Middle East and Middle Eastern studies. Back ...
(Warner Books, 1992) * ''Hearts and Minds: A People's History of Counterinsurgency'' by Hannah Gurman (New Press, 2013) * ''A People's History of the U.S. Military'' by Michael A. Bellesiles (New Press, 2013) * ''A People’s History of Poverty in America'' by
Stephen Pimpare Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...
(New York: New Press ; London : Turnaround, 2008) * ''A People's History of Environmentalism in the United States'' by
Chad Montrie Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic t ...
(Bloomsbury Academic, 2011) * ''For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America'' by John Curl (PM Press, 2012) * ''Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice'' by
Jessica Gordon Nembhard Jessica Gordon Nembhard (born July 3, 1956) is an American political economist. She has published books and articles in major economics journals. She is currently Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Department of ...
(Penn State university press, 2014) * ''A People’s History of Sports in the United States'' by Dave Zirin (New York; London: New Press, c2008) * ''A People’s Art History of the United States'' by Nicolas Lampert (New press, 2010) * ''Downwind: A People's History of the Nuclear West'' by
Sarah Alisabeth Fox Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...
(Bison Books, 2014) * ''A People's History of London'' by Lindsey German & John rees (Verso, 2012) * ''The Blood Never Dried: A People's History of the British Empire'' by
John Newsinger John Newsinger (born 21 May 1948) is a British historian and academic, who is an emeritus professor of history at Bath Spa University. Newsinger is a book reviewer for ''Race & Class'' and the ''New Left Review''. He is also author of numerous bo ...
(London: Bookmarks, 2009) *
A Renegade History of the United States
' by Thaddeus Russell (New York: Free Press, 2010) * ''A People's History of Scotland'' by
Chris Bambery Chris Bambery is a Scottish political activist, socialist, author, journalist, and TV presenter and producer, most recently with the Islam Channel where he hosts their current affairs programme ''The Report''. Prior to the 2017 UK General Elect ...
(Verso, 2014)


External links


libcom.org/history
- Formerly peopleshistory.co.uk, a people's history website {{Annales School World history Historiography