This is the first of three fascinating volumes in which Braudel, the renowned historian and celebrated author of The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World, offers what is in effect an economic and social history of the world from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution. Like everything he writes, it is new, stimulating and sparkles like champagne. Braudel's techniq This is the first of three fascinating volumes in which Braudel, the renowned historian and celebrated author of The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World, offers what is in effect an economic and social history of the world from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution. Like everything he writes, it is new, stimulating and sparkles like champagne.

Braudel's technique, it has been said, is that of a pointilliste. Myriads of separate details, sharp glimpses of reality experienced by real people, are seen miraculously to orchestrate themselves into broad rhythms that underlie and transcend the excitements and struggles of particular periods. Braudel sees the past as we see the present — only in a longer perspective and over a wider field.The perspective is that of the possible, of the actual material limitations to human life in any given time or place. It is the every¬day, the habitual — the obvious that is so obvious it has hitherto been neglected by historians — that Braudel claims for a new and vast and enriching province of history.

Food and drink, dress and housing, demography and family structure, energy and technology, money and credit, and, above all, the growth of towns, that powerful agent of social and economic development, are described in all the richness and complexity of real life. The intensely visual quality of Braudel's understanding of history is brought into sharper focus by the remarkable series of illustrations that of themselves would make this book incomparable FERNAND BRAUDEL was born in 1902, received a degree in history in 1923, and subsequently taught in Algeria, Paris and Sao Paulo. He spent five years as a prisoner of war in Germany, during which time he wrote his grand thesis, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, which was published in 1949. In 1946 he became a member of the editorial board of Annates, the famous journal founded by Marc Bloch and Lucian Febvre, whom he succeeded at the College de France in 1949. He has been a member of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and since 1962 has been chief administrator of the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme.

Professor Braudel holds honorary doctor¬ates from universities all over the world. Jacket painting: Detail from Breughel the Elder's The Fall of Icarus, from the Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.

(Giraudon) 'Braudel deserves a Nobel Prize.... [This is] the most remarkable picture of human life in the centuries before the human condition was radically changed by the growth of industry that has yet been presented. A book of great originality, a masterpiece.'

Plumb, The Washington Post 'Braudel's books enthrall. He is brilliant in demonstrating how most history is written on the backs of most people.' —John Leonard, The New York Times 'Even a preliminary glance at The Structures of Everyday Life shows a book that has no obvious compeer either in scope of reference or level of accessibility to the general reader. Its broad authority remains deeply impressive.' —Richard Holmes, Harper's 'Here is vast erudition, beautifully arranged, presented with grace of style, with humility before life's complexity and warm humanist feeling. Braudel's subject is nothing less than every¬day life all over the world before the industrial revolution. He succeeds triumphantly in his first purpose: 'if not to see everything, at least to locate everything, and on the requisite world scale.'

This paper posits that colonial America's “transition” to capitalism was effectively the gradual, often contested, and geographically uneven addition of Braudel's second layer of economic life – the market economy – onto the first layer of self-sufficiency and basic material life; with this process arguably driven by the third layer.

' —Angus Calder, The Standard 'On neither side of the Atlantic does there live a man or woman with so much knowledge of the past as Braudel, or with a greater sense of its aptness to the intellectual occasion in hand.You can't pick up this big fat book without having your attention transfixed by something or other, if only the great gallery of pictures. They are a masterpiece in themselves.' —Peter Laslett, The Guardian 'This new book is unarguably a brilliant survey of demog¬raphy, urbanisation, transport, technology, food, clothing, housing, money and business, social classes, state power and international trade in the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries.' —Theodore Zeldin, The Listener ----- By examining in detail the material life of preindustrial peoples around the world, Fernand Braudel significantly changed the way historians view their subject. Volume I describes food and drink, dress and housing, demography and family structure, energy and technology, money and credit, and the growth of towns. Books, even history books, run away with their authors.

This one has run ahead of me. But what can one say about its waywardness, its whims, even its own logic, that will be serious and valid? Our children do as they please. And yet we are responsible for their actions. I have a discovered a recent treat, finishing a book early in the morning and basking in its brilliance during the day. There is something more indulgent than ascetic in the practice.

Braudel's magnificent first volume was complet Books, even history books, run away with their authors. This one has run ahead of me.

But what can one say about its waywardness, its whims, even its own logic, that will be serious and valid? Our children do as they please. And yet we are responsible for their actions. I have a discovered a recent treat, finishing a book early in the morning and basking in its brilliance during the day.

There is something more indulgent than ascetic in the practice. Braudel's magnificent first volume was completed oh so early today while I listened to obscure chamber music.

The effect was nearly intoxicating. Asserting a distinction between the Material Economy and the Market Economy, Braudel attempts to delineate the former as constituted in the daily rituals and practices of humans in their disparate environments. It is the toil of the quotidian.

It is the gulf between wealth and poverty. The study displayed isn't an evolution but rather a series of processes, inspirations and missteps.

There isn't a narrative here. Adroit GRer Katie noted the abundance of detail and how one should allow it 'to breathe.'

Hundreds of pages on cereal production and furniture conclude without a sense of surfeit. Maybe it is a testament to Braudel's brilliance, but one never thinks, this is too much. The engine of material progress appears to be necessity. But eachproverbial page isn't tured until 'it is time.' Overcrowding and offshore resources kept pressure on the metaphorical envelope.

Cities appear to combust this creative spirit, even as the swells lamented the rising tide of the rabble. China appears to have held all the cards at one time. Did Islam simply run out of trees to maintain its conquering posture? Venice certainly displayed poise and style periodically. Braudel appears a bit cheeky with his notes on revolutions: in this case, artillery, moveable type and oceanic navigation. I was going to separate credit but that would be unwise. Credit is a remarkable agent for developments as well as minatory movement.

This is probably one of the most fun books of economic history I've ever read. A newer word which I enjoy hearing is 'world-building', or the process by which a writer establishes the setting and background of their stories. Braudel builds a world here.

Braudel delves into the history and development of food and drink, diseases, of houses, of all the details of life in Europe (well, mostly Europe) in the era from 1500-1800, and that long transformation of the global economy. I suspect that a majo This is probably one of the most fun books of economic history I've ever read. A newer word which I enjoy hearing is 'world-building', or the process by which a writer establishes the setting and background of their stories.

Braudel builds a world here. Braudel delves into the history and development of food and drink, diseases, of houses, of all the details of life in Europe (well, mostly Europe) in the era from 1500-1800, and that long transformation of the global economy. I suspect that a major audience for this book is not only the economic or social historian, but also the historical novelist who craves the most accurate detail. Let's be clear: This is how it's done. This is how the structures and flows and mapping of another world, another time are analysed.

This is how it's done. The first volume of Braudel's 3-volume 'Structures of Everyday Life: Civilisation and Capitalism, 15th-18th-C.' Is magisterial in the clear sense of the word: the work of a master. This isn't narrative history. I'll warn you about that. This is an analysis of the bones of history, of the economics and commerce and geography and cl Okay, then.

Let's be clear: This is how it's done. This is how the structures and flows and mapping of another world, another time are analysed.

This is how it's done. The first volume of Braudel's 3-volume 'Structures of Everyday Life: Civilisation and Capitalism, 15th-18th-C.' Is magisterial in the clear sense of the word: the work of a master. Nsis Vs Installshield Tutorial.

This isn't narrative history. I'll warn you about that.

This is an analysis of the bones of history, of the economics and commerce and geography and climate and demographics that undergird all the stories. You read it for a very different kind of pleasure than you get with Gibbon or Ranke. There's not a story here--- but there is a world.

Open this book anywhere and dive in. You'll find yourself immersed in the structures of the world and how the pieces fit together and how the rhythms of change work. Braudel and his followers re-cast how history was written--- they made it an imperial science, annexing sociology and geography and economics and medicine and geology and agronomy all into service of analysing the long-term rhythms and structures that go on beneath events. The three volumes of this series---- well, just get them. And watch a master build up a world and a time from all the half-seen pieces. Fernand Braudel is one of the few authors out there who writes books that people call terribly boring and hugely interesting for exactly the same reason: his approach to history is a amass a huge pile of details and then let them breathe.

There are 100 pages about population, and a solid 40 about growing wheat. There are whole subchapters about furniture. This book takes a view of world history from 1500-1800 and delves especially into issues of population, food, drink, fashion, technology and m Fernand Braudel is one of the few authors out there who writes books that people call terribly boring and hugely interesting for exactly the same reason: his approach to history is a amass a huge pile of details and then let them breathe. There are 100 pages about population, and a solid 40 about growing wheat.

There are whole subchapters about furniture. This book takes a view of world history from 1500-1800 and delves especially into issues of population, food, drink, fashion, technology and money. Sometimes connections are made, sometimes they're implied, but mostly Braudel brings together little bits and pieces and tries to make them add up into a picture. The Best Of Yarbrough And Peoples Rar on this page. I'd imagine that for the vast majority of readers out there, there are going to be a couple chapters in here that you think are awesome, and a couple where you wonder why he feels the need to be so all-inclusive about details that don't immediately seem to be all that pertinent. I remember reading once that the best way to read a Braudel book is to pick it up at random, and read little pieces here and there. I think it's kind of a fair point.

Taken in big chunks it's a bit overwhelming, but in little pieces it's full of fascinating information. It's the details here that really shine, and let Braudel explore a world that's often ignored in favor of the bigger political events. That said, the work does feel rather piecemeal on occasion, as if it's more a collection of neat anecdotes than a full book. Braudel's work is considered to be one of the seminal works in documenting the evolution of everyday life (throughout many centuries) and how it played into the bringing about the modern world. Braudel wasn't interested in kings, battles or the rise and fall of empires and kingdoms. Braudel's interest was in economics, food production, living spaces and so on.

In 2014 this style of historical research isn't radical or unusual and even historians who are primarily focused on the big picture will Braudel's work is considered to be one of the seminal works in documenting the evolution of everyday life (throughout many centuries) and how it played into the bringing about the modern world. Braudel wasn't interested in kings, battles or the rise and fall of empires and kingdoms. Braudel's interest was in economics, food production, living spaces and so on. In 2014 this style of historical research isn't radical or unusual and even historians who are primarily focused on the big picture will often dedicate a chapter or two talking about the economic and social conditions of the time. So what seemed fresh and different thirty-five years ago might come across as a bit threadbare now. That is if one insists on taking that attitude. 'The Structures of Everyday Life' is a work that is an archetype (no I don't want to debate that statement.

This isn't college.) and should be read with that in mind. Yes there has been more research since Braudel lived and was the primary leader of what is called the Annales School (style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century to stress long-term social history) and not all by French historians.

But the work is still very interesting and still has a fresh feeling to it. That's says something about Braudel and the ground that he broke. Perhaps I liked it because I have come to appreciate how the simplest things can have such a dramatic effect on our everyday existence. Such as the humble dental filling can prevent an infection from invading your body or the ho-hum eye exam can now catch a brain tumor. These things are not battles and emperors.

These things effect us as much as those big events. Maybe more so. We now live longer because of those simple things. As a result (well at least partially) there are now more of us. Can you honestly say that hasn't had an effect on the world? Yet who would wish to return to the conditions of 16th century Europe?

This is what interested Braudel and what now interests me. 'The Structures of Everyday Life' is a very dense work and is not a book that is easily breezed through.

I am certain that part of that can be attributed to the fact that the book has been translated from French. I've often found translated works to be more challenging - especially academic works. Nevertheless I enjoyed this book and I would strongly recommend it to those who are curious about how people lived and how their lives have changed over the centuries. How our lives have changed.

Those who think about the apocalypse, and wonder if it will happen to us, should read this book and be reminded that great tragedies are the norm, rather than the exception for most of human history. I'm going to start a review of this book even though I'm not done with it, because I think I may not finish it. It's a little on the pedantic side, with the author using academese and endeavoring to prove the merits of his methodology even at the cost of readability.

It has illustrations, which are n Those who think about the apocalypse, and wonder if it will happen to us, should read this book and be reminded that great tragedies are the norm, rather than the exception for most of human history. I'm going to start a review of this book even though I'm not done with it, because I think I may not finish it.

It's a little on the pedantic side, with the author using academese and endeavoring to prove the merits of his methodology even at the cost of readability. It has illustrations, which are nice. For a writer, this is a good sort of book to read if one is writing about anything pre-industrial. The omnipresences of famine, plague, and wars slips our mind when we are fortunate enough to be healthy, fat, and safe.

For those prone to depression, it's a bit hard to read of the endless misery and brutality of most of human existence. Update: nearly two weeks later, and I'm still reading it. This is why I hate research. Because you read books that are informative but BORING.

Really, I get that he's done a gazillion hours of research, but did he have to put everything in? And it's so Eurocentric that even I'm a little offended. I'm still learning interesting facts, like that Europe seemed to be the only place where people ruthlessly followed clothing fashions, but I'm also learning boring and useless things, like how many quintals of wheat a horse could thresh as opposed to a pair of oxen.

Don't know if I'm going to finish it or not. I feel like I've got sunk costs now, but damn, it's boring. Why oh why can't historians write well? Do they really think we're going to be impressed by big words and lots of details?

Do they really think that convoluted sentence structure makes us think they're smarter? The writer is trying to cover four centuries of life, all over the world, but he skips Africa and Australia almost entirely, dwells on France overmuch, and tends to throw everything together with such poor organization that it's hard to tell which fact relates to which century.

After this I'm going to have to read some YA to cleanse my palette. What is up with the French since the end of World War II? They are producing first rate minds of a caliber unmatched by any other Western country. I had never heard of the author until he was recommended to me and now, after I finish Vol II and III, I am going to look for other authors from the same school of analysis. Books like this I judge by how many times I have stopped reading and thought about what was on the page I had just digested. It happened frequently during this book.

Well written, What is up with the French since the end of World War II? They are producing first rate minds of a caliber unmatched by any other Western country. I had never heard of the author until he was recommended to me and now, after I finish Vol II and III, I am going to look for other authors from the same school of analysis. Books like this I judge by how many times I have stopped reading and thought about what was on the page I had just digested. It happened frequently during this book. Well written, and a deceptively easy read. What were some of the things this book left me pondering?

Cities; why they exist; what they represent; how they are organized. China; the transfer of technology; social structure and the use of manpower Energy; how it transforms and what reliance on oil could mean. The first volume of Braudel’s massive work on the construction of capitalism in the 15th to 18th century sets the stage for all that is to come. It is an exhaustive survey of the social and economics conditions in Europe and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the world at the beginning of the 15th century.

The amount of primary research that went into this is mind boggling. Everything you ever wanted to know about how much livestock the average farmer in Batvia had to what were the trends in fashio The first volume of Braudel’s massive work on the construction of capitalism in the 15th to 18th century sets the stage for all that is to come. It is an exhaustive survey of the social and economics conditions in Europe and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the world at the beginning of the 15th century. The amount of primary research that went into this is mind boggling. Everything you ever wanted to know about how much livestock the average farmer in Batvia had to what were the trends in fashion in the courts of Europe is covered here in great detail. As I said in my review of volume two of this work* Braudel is all over the place in these books, chasing every detail and argument to their end, and it can be difficult to grasp the important threads running through the work.

In the first volume this isn’t as much of an issue. Braudel is still all over the place, but since he is really only setting the stage, it isn’t as important to try and pick up his overall theory. Volume two is where he really lays out his argument for the separation of capitalism and the market and why certain places in Europe became economic power houses and others didn’t.** As in volume two, Braudel is at his best when he’s discussing Europe, and is out of his depth when he deals with the rest of the world. There is a trove of good information in this first volume however, and I would recommend it to the academics out there if only because at some point you may need to be able to speak on the Dutch economy in 1500 or the clothes worn in England by the aristocracy in 1600 and this is the place to get all that good info. *b/t/w I am amusing the shit out of myself by doing these reviews in a forward and backward chronology. ** This is also an idea that he returns to in extreme detail in volume three, which I am about a quarter done with and findkind of ehh, actually.

Not a bad book. Too detailed for me though overall and I must admit that I had to skip it in places. The book is about the way in which Europe predominantly segued into the 19th century and it covers the 15th – 18th centuries and all the fascinating things that happened. It juxtaposes developments in Europe against what happened in the Islamic world, china and India most of the time. The book has some really random chapters in it. It covered: populations around the world, development of food, th Not a bad book. Too detailed for me though overall and I must admit that I had to skip it in places.

The book is about the way in which Europe predominantly segued into the 19th century and it covers the 15th – 18th centuries and all the fascinating things that happened. It juxtaposes developments in Europe against what happened in the Islamic world, china and India most of the time. The book has some really random chapters in it. It covered: populations around the world, development of food, the spread of technology and revolutions, money and the last section talks about towns and cities around the world. This, the first volume of Braudel's magnum opus, is a wide-ranging world tour of everyday life and it's varied conditions in the pre-industrial world. So much ink has been spilled on the Annales School of history that I feel that I have little to add on that, but Braudel is a pleasure to read, and doing so makes me wish that I had a better memory to keep track the endlessly fascinating facts and anecdotes that inhabit every page.

One should also note that reading such a long work is not the chor This, the first volume of Braudel's magnum opus, is a wide-ranging world tour of everyday life and it's varied conditions in the pre-industrial world. So much ink has been spilled on the Annales School of history that I feel that I have little to add on that, but Braudel is a pleasure to read, and doing so makes me wish that I had a better memory to keep track the endlessly fascinating facts and anecdotes that inhabit every page.

One should also note that reading such a long work is not the chore it might seem to be, as the books are lavishly illustrated and packed full of period paintings, maps and charts. I look forward to the next two volumes. Incredibly broad and dense look at elements of daily life around the world, including housing, food, money, clothes, transportation, and more. Exhaustively researched, and very insightful. His points tend to get away from him though.

It's less of a problem in the middle, but in the chapters on population and later on cities, he gets lost in his own argument and then just hares off on random points before dropping the entire line of inquiry. Also, weighted very heavily towards European history. B Incredibly broad and dense look at elements of daily life around the world, including housing, food, money, clothes, transportation, and more. Exhaustively researched, and very insightful. His points tend to get away from him though. It's less of a problem in the middle, but in the chapters on population and later on cities, he gets lost in his own argument and then just hares off on random points before dropping the entire line of inquiry. Also, weighted very heavily towards European history.

But a fantastic overview with ambitious breadth. Longer review to come after I finish parts II and III. So far, though, I feel comfortable saying that this is one of the most eye-opening and awe-inspiring works of history I've ever read, one of the few that really impresses me with the sheer size of the past, while maintaining readable and pleasant prose throughout. Braudel is a master of giving details on details which slowly cohere into some kind of pattern, and then pulling back to give a smart, crisp conclusion which makes that pattern com Longer review to come after I finish parts II and III. So far, though, I feel comfortable saying that this is one of the most eye-opening and awe-inspiring works of history I've ever read, one of the few that really impresses me with the sheer size of the past, while maintaining readable and pleasant prose throughout. Braudel is a master of giving details on details which slowly cohere into some kind of pattern, and then pulling back to give a smart, crisp conclusion which makes that pattern come completely into focus. My first exposure to Braudel and the Annales School was in a historiography class I took for my history degree.

It was an excerpt from THE MEDITERRANEAN and it left quite the impression on me. Let's do history without the 'big men', without the wars and battles, and without a narrative recursively serving the needs of one economic worldview or another. Instead, let's start literally from the ground up. THE STRUCTURES OF EVERYDAY LIFE is not as comprehensive as THE MEDITERRANEAN seems (I haven't f My first exposure to Braudel and the Annales School was in a historiography class I took for my history degree. It was an excerpt from THE MEDITERRANEAN and it left quite the impression on me.

Let's do history without the 'big men', without the wars and battles, and without a narrative recursively serving the needs of one economic worldview or another. Instead, let's start literally from the ground up. THE STRUCTURES OF EVERYDAY LIFE is not as comprehensive as THE MEDITERRANEAN seems (I haven't finished the latter yet), and I think it made it that much more enjoyable to me. Braudel sets out in this first volume of three to discuss the formulative centuries before the Industrial Revolution. He focuses on everyday things, from food to furniture, who used them, how they used them, who used what, and so forth. He even adds a comparative aspect as he includes civilizations outside of Europe such as China, the New World, and Islam. The book was fascinating, much more so than one would expect from a history book literally on the mundane.

But Braudel (and/or the English translator Sian Reynolds) writes prose engaging enough and convincing enough to draw the reader in to see just why the change in food types from 15th to 18 century France matters in the scheme of modernity. The author also utilizes a dense and diverse amount of quantitative data, as well as interesting qualitative bits such as the foregrounds of paintings and the diaries of world travelers. The result is a work of history that is both uncharacteristically empirical and creative, a classic work of the Annales. The book does a have a few flaws, most notably its datedness. Braudel, as forward thinking as he was in the 1960s to even include non-European countries for comparision, does not treat them equally enough (this could be due to limited access to sources and his limited expertise in the areas like China). Braudel uses terminalogy that is not PC today, such as Tartar and Black Africa, and he seems to use Turks and Islam interchangeably.

The book does lag a bit sometimes, often in sections were Braudel unleashes a flurry of statistics about seemingly every city in France or other European country. It's obvious Braudel has a special connection with his native country, and one can't blame him for using the data most readily available to him, but at times he seriously belabors the point he's trying to illustrate. In conclusion, the book is an excellent read, and a great way to be introduced to the French Annales School and its master, Fernand Braudel.

By the end, the reader will see the world they live in past, present, and future, in a new light. The little things matter, and reveal an incredible amount about culture an society.

Okay first of all: the glue used in the binding of this book is truly not good? I bought it used in 'Very Good' condition, and somewhere in the middle of the process of being shipped to me, it divided neatly into two big 'blocks.' This made reading the early chapters miserable: pages coming off in my hands, etc. I do not remember as much about the early chapters of this book as a result. Fortunately the book is good enough to make that really the only iffy thing I can say about it (I guess there Okay first of all: the glue used in the binding of this book is truly not good? I bought it used in 'Very Good' condition, and somewhere in the middle of the process of being shipped to me, it divided neatly into two big 'blocks.' This made reading the early chapters miserable: pages coming off in my hands, etc.

I do not remember as much about the early chapters of this book as a result. Fortunately the book is good enough to make that really the only iffy thing I can say about it (I guess there is also some weird Orientalist/colonialist shade thrown on Precolombian S American religious culture and West Asian monarchy, but I mean this book was primarily written in what, 1950something France? Coulda been much worse.) Basically an exceedingly tight-focus look at Life Among People In The Past, categorized almost by trade good: what grains did people eat? Where did they come from? What about alcohol?

What about bathrooms? It's a slog to the extent that there's essentially no narrative in this volume--basically a 560-page preamble to the narrative of Capitalism's Rise that I think comes only in the final book. It is sort of like Moby Dick: 30 pages of FIGHTING THE TITULAR WHALE balanced out by 600 pages of intense descriptions of sperm extraction and cetological historiography. This is an important balance for a book to strike.

More books ought to have this balance. It is frustrating, however. Kings and battles are a distant afterthought--it was actually very jarring, in the end of the book, to read about St.

Petersburg with only scant reference to Peter the Great, with focus much more on the kind of slab foundations you had to use to build a city on the swamps, and where such foundations had to come from, and what sorts of trade networks enabled this. Do you want to know what kinds of coins were used in different regions, and why? Do you want to know about the effects of road maintenance on town planning? What about the caloric yield per peasant of rice vs maize vs wheat, and the effects of each on the psychospiritual character of a whole civilization??? I did not know how much everything in my mind was screaming, yearning for this book. How much I needed to know these things. Reading the endnotes is also wonderful: the endnotes were RETROACTIVELY, many years after the initial text had been published, and somehow Braudel managed to assemble hundreds of citations per chapter of things like exact figures of wine production in certain French provinces.

Sometimes, apologetically, he has to just cite 'Reference mislaid,' and he seems very broken up about it. Epic in both vision and execution, Braudel's 'Stuctures of Civiliisation' turns your accustomed way of thinking about history up side down. In writing his history of the world from the 14th to 18th centuries, Braudel eschews the personalities and events that fill the pages of most history. Instead, he focuses on the day-to-day lifes of normal (non-elite) in an attempt to compare and contrast the various civilisations, sub-civilisations and cultures of the world. Although the chapter titles sound Epic in both vision and execution, Braudel's 'Stuctures of Civiliisation' turns your accustomed way of thinking about history up side down.

In writing his history of the world from the 14th to 18th centuries, Braudel eschews the personalities and events that fill the pages of most history. Instead, he focuses on the day-to-day lifes of normal (non-elite) in an attempt to compare and contrast the various civilisations, sub-civilisations and cultures of the world. Although the chapter titles sound mundane (daily bread, food and drink, money, etc.) this book is not boring. Fully illustrated with maps, charts and paintings, Braudel creates a classic of history. Crucially, he also integrates teaching from fields like geography and economics.

The over all effect of the work is breathtaking: it's no wonder that a quick googling of the author's name turns up university based institutes of inter-disciplinary study named after him on three (count them three!) continents. On the negative side, well, the book is about twenty years old, so much of the research he uses has been updated. I don't think you can deny that the man is a little euro and franco centric (not that I have a problem with that, I don't.) Over all, this is a path breaking work, and should be on the book shelve for all fans of world history. I received this book as a gift from my maternal grandmother in 1982. In the thirty three years since Mum made me promise to read the entire three-volume set if she bought it I have conjured a thousand reasons to wait. She passed away more than a decade ago and only now have I managed to keep a third of my promise.

In The Structures of Everyday Life, Braudel presents a densely quantified history of human experience around the world in the three hundred years before the Industrial Revolution. Ther I received this book as a gift from my maternal grandmother in 1982. In the thirty three years since Mum made me promise to read the entire three-volume set if she bought it I have conjured a thousand reasons to wait. She passed away more than a decade ago and only now have I managed to keep a third of my promise. In The Structures of Everyday Life, Braudel presents a densely quantified history of human experience around the world in the three hundred years before the Industrial Revolution. There's no narrative here. The book is organized into sections on population, disease, agriculture, food, housing, technology, money, and towns and cities.

In each case, Braudel surveys contemporaneous practices and context in China, India, the Middle East, and Europe with snippets from the Americas and Africa. For me, the filth of city life (by modern standards) and the cyclical catastrophes from plague and famine throughout the 15th to 18th centuries are reminders that, (1) humans can habituate to almost any circumstance, and (2) social, political, and material progress may not have reached their apex in the 21st century but nostalgia for the past is a profoundly misguided emotion. Even before the iPhone. Memorial stars. This was my introduction to the Annales school of history, and definitely an eye-opening paradigm shift. For whatever reason, I tend to identify with the Sancho Panzas of the world, and in college I avoided all history (except for ancient) as essentially presenting a litany of kings (or emperors, or Popes, or Imams, or whatever. The rich and powerful, in short) quixotically fighting with each other--though the actual loss of life largely devolved upon their subjects.

In Braudel Memorial stars. This was my introduction to the Annales school of history, and definitely an eye-opening paradigm shift. For whatever reason, I tend to identify with the Sancho Panzas of the world, and in college I avoided all history (except for ancient) as essentially presenting a litany of kings (or emperors, or Popes, or Imams, or whatever. The rich and powerful, in short) quixotically fighting with each other--though the actual loss of life largely devolved upon their subjects. In Braudel at last, and rather late in life, I found the approach to history I did not know I had been looking for (though my love of immersive historical fiction should have given me a clue). Braudel is not for everybody in his exhaustive detail, and in his deliberate focus on the 'humdrum,' but he is definitely for me.

For reasons largely personal (perhaps due to my heritage), I prefer The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. This three-volume set should be required reading for anyone with a serious interest in the pre-industrial past. The work abounds with useful information on the past conditions of everyday life on a wide variety of subjects. I was interested while reading to gauge Braudel's economic theories--he more or less equates capitalism with big business and admits that market trade at least at the smaller level of everyday life was largely beneficial to the people. It makes an interesting read in terms of This three-volume set should be required reading for anyone with a serious interest in the pre-industrial past. The work abounds with useful information on the past conditions of everyday life on a wide variety of subjects. I was interested while reading to gauge Braudel's economic theories--he more or less equates capitalism with big business and admits that market trade at least at the smaller level of everyday life was largely beneficial to the people.

It makes an interesting read in terms of the shifting definitions of capitalism current in the literature and reminds us that when different authors talk about capitalism that they are using the same term to refer to numerous different things. A rare look at the actual history of the world.

'The history of the world is but the biography of great men' is a phrase that has haunted historiography from Thucydides to today. Most historians will dismiss the Great Man theory, but that doesn't keep the field from continuing to frame history in those terms—in terms of secular, religious, and military leaders. Braudel has done the opposite. Fascinating portraits of a wide range of topics.

Its faults are admitted by Braudel: the Americas, Africa, A rare look at the actual history of the world. 'The history of the world is but the biography of great men' is a phrase that has haunted historiography from Thucydides to today.

Most historians will dismiss the Great Man theory, but that doesn't keep the field from continuing to frame history in those terms—in terms of secular, religious, and military leaders. Braudel has done the opposite. Fascinating portraits of a wide range of topics. Its faults are admitted by Braudel: the Americas, Africa, and Oceania are widely ignored, and the wide range of topics discussed necessitates a summary view rather than a comprehensive one. Still: great stuff. Important stuff. It's hard to imagine a modern historical landscape without Braudel's influence.

I really, really like the idea of a 'bottom up' history that takes into account all the raw material that makes up everyday life. OK, so he's a Eurocentrist and, maybe worse, a Francocentrist. Take the bad with the good. I'd probably like him a bit more if he focused on specific material histories rather than trying to write a History of Everything Everywhere, but if I think of this as a theoretical primer ra It's hard to imagine a modern historical landscape without Braudel's influence. I really, really like the idea of a 'bottom up' history that takes into account all the raw material that makes up everyday life.

OK, so he's a Eurocentrist and, maybe worse, a Francocentrist. Take the bad with the good.

I'd probably like him a bit more if he focused on specific material histories rather than trying to write a History of Everything Everywhere, but if I think of this as a theoretical primer rather than an explicit history, I'm much more fond of it. This book is extremely difficult to read.

It is wordy, drawn out, and spends a lot of time circling around ideas to lay them out. It takes 100 pages to convey 2 pages of ideas, or at least feels this way. The overall experience is laborious. Its saving grace is the materiality, the substance the author addresses. It is great to see a work that focuses more profoundly on how human life functions, and less on the political events that constitute the substance of most historical accounts. I hope to This book is extremely difficult to read. It is wordy, drawn out, and spends a lot of time circling around ideas to lay them out.

It takes 100 pages to convey 2 pages of ideas, or at least feels this way. The overall experience is laborious. Its saving grace is the materiality, the substance the author addresses. It is great to see a work that focuses more profoundly on how human life functions, and less on the political events that constitute the substance of most historical accounts.

I hope to pick it back up again someday and see if I can get through some more. I don't know if I'll ever finish this - I use it mainly to read myself to sleep, and my edition is so shittily bound that it is falling apart. But it's great stuff - fascinating delving into everything from cereal production to patent applications, with a meandering narrative that somehow brings out the wider implications of all the minutiae in interesting ways. It purports to be global, but like most things written by Western authors that purport to be global, it has a heavy European focus, tho I don't know if I'll ever finish this - I use it mainly to read myself to sleep, and my edition is so shittily bound that it is falling apart. But it's great stuff - fascinating delving into everything from cereal production to patent applications, with a meandering narrative that somehow brings out the wider implications of all the minutiae in interesting ways.

It purports to be global, but like most things written by Western authors that purport to be global, it has a heavy European focus, though the amount of time and attention given to a few selected other areas is respectable. Fernand Braudel was a French historian and a leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects: The Mediterranean (1923–49, then 1949–66), Civilization and Capitalism (1955–79), and the unfinished Identity of France (1970–85). His reputation stems in part from his writings, but even more from his success in making the Annales School the most important engine of historica Fernand Braudel was a French historian and a leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects: The Mediterranean (1923–49, then 1949–66), Civilization and Capitalism (1955–79), and the unfinished Identity of France (1970–85). His reputation stems in part from his writings, but even more from his success in making the Annales School the most important engine of historical research in France and much of the world after 1950. As the dominant leader of the Annales School of historiography in the 1950s and 1960s, he exerted enormous influence on historical writing in France and other countries.

Braudel has been considered one of the greatest of the modern historians who have emphasized the role of large-scale socioeconomic factors in the making and writing of history. He can also be considered as one of the precursors of world-systems theory.