Romain Huret

All in the Family Again? Political Historians and the Challenge of Social History

In many ways, the dawn of the twenty-fi rst century has turned out to be a central juncture for political history. Th e collective book Th e Democratic Experiment , edited by Meg Jacobs, Julian Zelizer, and Peter Novak, has been a good example among many others of the current revitalization of American political history. 1 Since the 1990s, many articles advocating a “new” political history have been published and the idea is now widespread in the profession not only in the United States but also in Europe and in France. 2 Every period of American history is concerned with such a renewal: from the Early Republic to the end of the twentieth century, books, articles, and discussions on the Internet have tried to promote a new political history. 3 In France too, theoretical discussions and collective books have revitalized many fi elds of political history, from the French Revolution to the collapse of the Th ird

Political History Today on Both Sides of the Atlantic

In November 2006, a symposium on political history was held at the École des hautes études en sciences in the same building that houses the editorial offi ces of Les Annales , a French journal known for its advocacy of social history and its dismissal of political history. Th e symposium focused on the recently published New Directions in American Political History , edited by Meg Jacobs, Peter Novak, and Julian Zelizer, and its relevance to political history in Europe. 1 Th e questions the symposium posed included: How is it possible to integrate workers, minorities, and women into the framework of political history? 2 Do the state and political institutions have the same meaning, purpose, and power today that they had in the nineteenth century? 3