What does it mean to be a social and cultural historian today? In the
wake of the 'cultural turn', and in an age of digital and public
history, what challenges and opportunities await historians in the early
21st century? In this exciting new text, leading historians reflect on
key developments in their fields and argue for a range of 'new
directions' in social and cultural history. Focusing on emerging areas
of historical research such as the history of the emotions and
environmental history, New Directions in Social and Cultural History
is an invaluable guide to the current and future state of the field.
The book is divided into three clear sections, each with an editorial
introduction, and covering key thematic areas: histories of the human,
the material world, and challenges and provocations. Each chapter in the
collection provides an introduction to the key and recent developments
in its specialist field, with their authors then moving on to argue for
what they see as particularly important shifts and interventions in the
theory and methodology and suggest future developments. New Directions
in Social and Cultural History provides a comprehensive and insightful
overview of this burgeoning field which will be important reading for
all students and scholars of social and cultural history and
historiography.