While bookstore shelves around the world have never ceased to display best-selling life-and-lettersA" biographies in prominent positions, the genre became less popular among academic historians during the Cold War decades. Their main concern then was with political and socioeconomic structures, institutions, and organizations, or-more recently-with the daily lives of ordinary people and small communities. The contributors to this volume-all well known senior historians-offer self-critical reflections on problems they encountered when writing biographies themselves. Some of them also deal with topics specific to Central Europe, such as the challenges of writing about the lives of both victims and perpetrators. Although the volume concentrates on European historiography, its strong methodological and conceptual focus will be of great interest to non-European historians wrestling with the old structure-versus-agencyA" question in their own work.

Book Information
ISBN 9781845455187
Author Volker R. Berghahn
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint Berghahn Books
Publisher Berghahn Books
Weight(grams) 499g