Comparison and History

Historians today like to preach the virtues of comparison and cross-national work. In the last decade, cross-national histories have prospered, yielding important work in the subjects as diverse as the transatlantic trade in slaves and the cultures of celebrity. In the meantime, comparative history has also enjoyed a renaissance, but what is largely missing in the rush beyond the nation is any sense of how to tackle this research. This volume brings together scholars who have worked either cross-nationally or comparatively to reflect upon their own research. In essays that engage practical, methodological, and theoretical questions, these contributors assess the gains--but also the obstacles and perils--of research that traverses national boundaries. Drawn from the subject-areas that have attracted the most comparative and cross-national attention: war, welfare, labor, nation, immigration, and gender. Taken together, these essays provide the first critical analysis of the cross-national turn in European history.

"Those of us who have gone against the grain of the historical profession and attempted to write comparative or transnational history should feel grateful for this fine collection of essays. Ably edited and introduced by Deborah Cohen and Maura Connor (who have also contributed important essays of their own) it provides eleven leading practitioners of Europe-based historical comparison with a forum in which to ponder the possibilities and pitfalls of this demanding but richly illuminating mode of historical analysis. Disagreements remain about what comparative history is or should be, but the issues are have been clarified more effectively than ever before." -- George M. Fredrickson, Robinson Professor of History Emeritus, Stanford University, and author of TheComparative Imagination"All history is comparative history in one way or another, as this admirable collection of essays abundantly confirms. Whether exploring particular contexts or unpacking the categories and concepts that organize our general historical understanding, the authors probe sensibly into the forms of comparison historians always presume. Given the divisiveness ranging social science historians against 'culturalists' in the past, these wide-ranging and eclectic reflections will be especially welcome." -- Geoff Eley, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor"In Comparison and History some noted practitioners consider the meanings and methods of historical comparison, critically assess their own work, and dissect that of others in wide-ranging, opinionated, and witty essays. Although all take the European nation state as their unit of analysis, there is no quest for consensus. Rather, collectively, these diverse topics and varied approaches exemplify how clear-headed comparison can stimulate fresh historical thinking." -- Raymond Grew, University of Michigan

Deborah Cohen is an Associate Professor of History at Brown University. Maura O'Connor is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati.