Thinking History Globally

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Diego Olstein

   Pages 1-8

3. Thinking History Globally: Theory in Practice. Argentina under Perón (1946–1955), Thinking Globally a National History

   • Diego Olstein

   Pages 9-32

4. Thinking History Globally: 12 Branches in Their Singularities, Overlaps, and Clusters

   • Diego Olstein

   Pages 33-58

5. Thinking History Globally: Comparing or Connecting

   • Diego Olstein

   Pages 59-81

6. Thinking History Globally: Comparing and Connecting

   • Diego Olstein

   Pages 82-97

7. Thinking History Globally: Varieties of Connections

   • Diego Olstein

   Pages 98-112

8. Thinking History Globally: Conceptualizing through Social Sciences

   • Diego Olstein

   Pages 113-124

9. Thinking History Globally, Thinking Globalization Historically

   • Diego Olstein

   Pages 125-139

10. Thinking History Globally: Contextualizing on a Bigger Scale

    • Diego Olstein

    Pages 140-156

11. All Together Now, a Last Rehearsal: Thinking Globally on Border Crossing Phenomena, the First World War

    • Diego Olstein

    Pages 157-183

12. Back Matter

    Pages 184-223

    PDF

The book brings together many recent trends in writing history under a common framework: thinking history globally. By thinking history globally, the book explains, applies, and exemplifies the four basic strategies of analysis, the big C's: comparing, connecting, conceptualizing, and contextualizing, using twelve different branches of history.

• Historical thinking
• global thinking
• historiography
• globalization
• comparative history
• relational history
• entangled history
• connected histories
• shared histories
• international history
• transnational history
• oceanic history
• global history
• world history
• big history
• historical sociology
• civilizational analysis
• world-system approach
• history of globalization
• bibliography
• concept
• history
• history of literature
• singular
• writing

“This is one of many volumes devoted to the search for a proper historiography fitting the human life that is now being lived globally and thus must be understood accordingly. … Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.” (A. Breisach, Choice, Vol. 53 (1), September, 2015)

"This book is one of those remarkable volumes that is, at once, a basic guide to undergraduate students and a sophisticated roadmap for leaders in the profession Professor Olstein developed his interpretation not only out of his particular strengths of mind but because of his experience around the world... His skill in proposing clear historical generalizations makes it possible for readers to join him in seeing the order that lies within all the complexity of the world's detail." - Patrick Manning, University of Pittsburgh

'What is global history? It has clearly been on the rise lately, but its ascent has been coupled with much confusion as to how to define it, what it means, and how it can be written. Diego Olstein has boldly set out to bring some order to the chaos. The result is a systematic, original, and thought-provoking volume that will repay reading by anyone who is interested in the new frontiers of the historical profession, from beginning students to grizzled professionals.' - Erez Manela, Harvard University

"This is a very important book dealing with the challenge of thinking about history beyond single nation states and continents. With great talent for systematizing complex research landscapes, the author carefully differentiates between various historiographical approaches. Moreover, he identifies various patterns of thinking about history on larger scales illustrating the multifaceted nature of this growing field. It is one of the great merits of this book that its rich academic reflections do not only remain at an abstract, definitional level. Quite to the contrary, Olstein skillfully refers to illustrative examples and historical case studies, making the book also highly useful for a student audience." - Dominic Sachsenmaier, Jacobs University

'In this imaginative, learned, and lively book Diego Olstein shows us many ways that scholars have been moving well beyond national frameworks. Historians are not only looking at how national histories are alike and different, but at how they are connected. With great verve, and insight, this book puts on display a dozen ways of doing so. In telling us about the past achievements of history across borders he contributes mightily to its future'. - John Markoff, University of Pittsburgh

' How do you adopt a 'global' approach to the past? Over the last few decades, scholars have answered this question in a bewildering number of ways Thinking History Globally brings order to this chaos [It] examines the deep logic of historical thinking, and highlights what must be changed if we are to adopt a truly global outlook. Since nowadays it makes little sense to think about history except in global terms, what Thinking History Globally really seeks to do, is to redefine the historical discipline." - Yuval Noah Harari, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

'Provides readers with applied examples of how these approaches and cognitive patterns might actually be applied to different subjects. More than an entertaining read, the book is thus of great use for the professor or TA confronted with the question of, for example, what it actually means to write the First World War 'in a global context.'' - Timothy Nunan, Toynbee Prize Foundation

• World History Center, University of Pittsburgh, USA

  Diego Olstein

Diego Olstein is Associate Professor in the Department of History and Associate Director of the World History Center at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He has published widely on Medieval Spain, World History, and historiography, and has taught and lectured on these subjects in Argentina, Israel, Europe, the US, Australia, and China.

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