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 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, the poor, the nonconformists, and otherwise marginal groups. The authors are typically on the left and have a
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
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 "A ...
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 wit ...
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 b ...
'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
'' A People's History of the United States'' is a 1980 nonfiction book by American historian and political scientist Howard Zinn. In the book, Zinn presented what he considered to be a different side of history from the more traditional "funda ...
''.
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 ...
subaltern
Subaltern may refer to:
*Subaltern (postcolonialism), colonial populations who are outside the hierarchy of power
* Subaltern (military), a primarily British and Commonwealth military term for a junior officer
* Subalternation, going from a univer ...
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
Social status is the level of social value a person is considered to possess. More specifically, it refers to the relative level of respect, honour, assumed competence, and deference accorded to people, groups, and organizations in a society. Stat ...
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
'' A People's History of the United States'' is a 1980 nonfiction book by American historian and political scientist Howard Zinn. In the book, Zinn presented what he considered to be a different side of history from the more traditional "funda ...
'', 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 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."
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 ...
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 b ...
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 (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 Second World War'' by Donny Gluckstein (Pluto Press, 2012)
* ''A People's History of World War II'' by Marc Favreau (New press, 2011)
* ''The Hundred Years War: A People's History'' by David green (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 ...
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 (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 (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
Origina ...
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005)
*''The English Civil War: A People's History'' by
Diane Purkiss
Diane Purkiss (born 30 June 1961) is Fellow and Tutor of English at Keble College, Oxford. She specialises in Renaissance and women's literature, witchcraft and the English Civil War.
Purkiss was born in Melbourne, Australia, and was educated at ...
(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 History of the Arab Peoples'' by Albert Hourani (Warner Books, 1992)
* ''Hearts and Minds: A People's History of Counterinsurgency'' by
Hannah Gurman
Hannah or Hanna may refer to:
People, biblical figures, and fictional characters
* Hannah (name), a female given name of Hebrew origin
* Hanna (Arabic name), a family and a male given name of Christian Arab origin
* Hanna (Irish surname), a fam ...
(New Press, 2013)
* ''A People's History of the U.S. Military'' by
Michael A. Bellesiles
''Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture'' is a discredited 2000 book by historian Michael A. Bellesiles about American gun culture, an expansion of a 1996 article he published in the ''Journal of American History''. Bellesiles, t ...
(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; ...
(New York: New Press ; London : Turnaround, 2008)
* ''A People's History of Environmentalism in the United States'' by Chad Montrie (Bloomsbury Academic, 2011)
* ''For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America'' by
John Curl
John Curl (born September 10, 1940) is an American poet, memoirist, translator, author, activist and historian.
Early life and education
Curl was born in New York City and grew up in Manhattan and rural New Jersey. His family was working cl ...
(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
Dave Zirin, born 1974, is an American political sportswriter. He is the sports editor for ''The Nation'', a weekly progressive magazine dedicated to politics and culture, and writes a blog named ''Edge of Sports: the weekly sports column by Da ...
(New York; London: New Press, c2008)
* ''A People’s Art History of the United States'' by
Nicolas Lampert
Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to:
People Given name
* Nicolas (given name)
Mononym
* Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer
* Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer
Surname Nicolas
* Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...
(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 ...
Thaddeus Russell
Thaddeus (Latin ''Thaddaeus'', Ancient Greek Θαδδαῖος ''Thaddaĩos'', from Aramaic תדי ''Ṯaday'') is a male given name.
As of the 1990 Census, ''Thaddeus'' was the 611th most popular male name in the United States, while ''Thad'', ...
(New York: Free Press, 2010)
* ''A People's History of Scotland'' by Chris Bambery (Verso, 2014)