tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post6227829226436108499..comments2024-03-23T04:01:39.348-04:00Comments on Understanding Society: New modes of historical presentationDan Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-29924096837474367472010-12-01T07:11:10.423-05:002010-12-01T07:11:10.423-05:00Hmm. First thought is that prose tells the reader ...Hmm. First thought is that prose tells the reader not just what you conclude, but how you got there and (most important) what degree of confidence you have in the various elements of your argument. Graphs are vivid, but they are bad at showing degrees of certainty.<br /><br />Your maps of France, for instance, show sharp lines dividing zones where really there was shading of one influence into another.<br /><br />Graphs and other visuals are enormously helpful but, like any more restricted channel of communication, cannot carry as much information as prose (which in turn cannot carry as much as speech).Peter Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13289172253358199028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-78286758206480557852010-11-18T04:00:52.529-05:002010-11-18T04:00:52.529-05:00There is a nice book on a region of the Netherland...There is a nice book on a region of the Netherlands: 'Een pront wijf, een mager paard en een zoon op het seminarie'(a good wife, a skinny horse and a son on the seminary, G. Trienekens e.o.) which (among other things) sets out to map the mentality of small farmers in Brabant. One of the changes was the 'rechristianisation' of these catholics - a profound change in their mentalty which lead to a more conscious kind of catholic christianity. In this book there is a beautifull graph of the average number of communion wafers per parish member - a graph which shows a profound post 1880 increase! Even religious mentalities and interpretative history can be graphed!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com