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Rating: 
Summary: Explains the often undocumented evolution of rural societies
Review: I read the Spanish translation of this book for a graduate course and it became a crucial reference for other scholarly work I am doing now. While urban history is often well documented, rural history is a huge question mark. As a result, most of the history we know is that of urban societies. Bloch?s work is outstanding, since he decides to reconstruct history from the evidence still left in the present. He "moves backward in the line of history" and uses all types of evidence available to "record change". Change, he says, is the only evidence left of rural history. For example, he researches how people organized agricultural parcels, how they named their towns, why and how they mark their territories, how different agricultural activites coexisted, what where their agricultural techniques, and their rationale... And, while doing that, he reconstructs the imperatives of these medieval times, the crucial forces acting upon people in their often isolated communities. Most important, he addresses why and how these practices changed. Through these changes, he is able to document history. Events that although crucial, were not recorded in history books, in archives, in chronicles, etc. Still, they had paramount importance in the evolution of French society. This book is universal, since it allows us to understand not only French history, but overall rural history as well. For example, one can understand how medieval agricultural practices had an impact in the long and narrow shape of the plots of land parceled in the initial settlements of the United States. In addition, it shows us that change is very slow, and that many elements of medieval society are still with us today.
Rating:
Summary: Explains the often undocumented evolution of rural societies
Review: I read the Spanish translation of this book for a graduate course and it became a crucial reference for other scholarly work I am doing now. While urban history is often well documented, rural history is a huge question mark. As a result, most of the history we know is that of urban societies. Bloch's work is outstanding, since he decides to reconstruct history from the evidence still left in the present. He "moves backward in the line of history" and uses all types of evidence available to "record change". Change, he says, is the only evidence left of rural history. For example, he researches how people organized agricultural parcels, how they named their towns, why and how they mark their territories, how different agricultural activites coexisted, what where their agricultural techniques, and their rationale... And, while doing that, he reconstructs the imperatives of these medieval times, the crucial forces acting upon people in their often isolated communities. Most important, he addresses why and how these practices changed. Through these changes, he is able to document history. Events that although crucial, were not recorded in history books, in archives, in chronicles, etc. Still, they had paramount importance in the evolution of French society. This book is universal, since it allows us to understand not only French history, but overall rural history as well. For example, one can understand how medieval agricultural practices had an impact in the long and narrow shape of the plots of land parceled in the initial settlements of the United States. In addition, it shows us that change is very slow, and that many elements of medieval society are still with us today.
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