Marc Bloch was one of the twentieth century's most important and pathbreaking historians.  Several features of his work are particularly important: his attention to the specifics of medieval economic institutions, his interest in historically specific...

What is the purpose of a university education? And who ought to answer this question when it comes to the practical business of maintaining and reforming a university curriculum? The second question is the easier of the two. In the United States...

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"> <div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> At some point...

Over 700 historians, sociologists, demographers, and political scientists enjoyed a splendid program of panels at the Social Science History Association in Long Beach this week (link). There were panels on recent historical demography, comparative...

Several earlier posts have described the idea of "methodological localism" (post).  This is part of an argument I want to defend in support of the idea that we need new and better ways of thinking about the "stuff" of society. We need to thoroughly...