A while ago the "microhistory" trend took off - books like Salt, Cod, Coffee and Aspirin flew off bookstore shelves into our collections. I'm seeing a variant on the trend, as yet unnamed, which I'll dub the "annual history": books like 1492 (and the "prequel" 1491), 1968, 1789 and other memorable years.
Perhaps history writ large is too much for our ADD-based lives? Or is there another reason? Anyone?
28.2.10
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2 comments:
Not sure, but I'd suspect it's because details are interesting. Also, many years are kinda boring ;)
I think it IS all about the years. One of my favorite books is 1900 by Rebecca West (1982), a year whose significance was both inherent and imposed.
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