Review of Williams, M. A., 'Researching Local History: The Human Journey', London/New York, Addison/Wesley Longman, 1996, xx, 276 pp., 48 illustrations, 9 tables,(paper), £14.99.

Abstract

This volume is the fourth in the same publishers' series entitled "Approaches to Local History" under the general editorship of David Hey. It is a practical yet inspiring book which considers what local history is, the positive values of such researching and how one should go about it. It concentrates - as does much folklife work - on the lives of ordinary people in the relatively recent past. This work of family history seeks to do what local history does - relate people to place, or, rather, the place to the people. Over and beyond the "near" Welsh area of Monmouthshire the book's especial focus is on families; neighbourhood networks; their links with national events; and the dynamics of those same local communities. The writer, a scientist, addresses methodologies; the keeping of records; awareness of limitations; and how to adventure into history's waters and so make the "human journey" back into our own pasts. As he has taught himself he can also teach others. Or is it that the Arts-Science divide is an artificial one, the best scientists easily able to cross it? Certainly the book is infectious, persuasive, and remarkably liberating of the fears that preclude so many from similar endeavours.