Thinking about History

Among the many virtues of Maza’s book is her recognition that history is defined by practice, not by theories or methods—by what historians do rather than what they have to say about how or why they do it. The basis of Thinking about History, therefore, is Maza’s careful reading and astute summary of important historical works. Her first three chapters address history’s subject matter—the kinds of people that historians study (“The History of Whom?”), definitions of historical space (“The History of Where?”), and the objects and activities that attract scholarly attention (“The History of What?”). Maza shows how the range of the discipline’s interest has expanded, including more groups (women, the disadvantaged, and ethnic and sexual minorities), different ways of organizing space (regions, borderlands, and transnational and global connections), and new topics (popular culture, material objects, and environmental issues). This expansion of subject matter has encouraged scholars to reformulate...