Since the Second World War there has been a massive expansion in the study of economic and social history generating, and fuelled by, new journals, new academic series and societies. I he expansion of research has gi en rise to new debates and ferocious contixn’er-sies. This series proposes to take up some of the current issues in historical debate and explore them in a comparative framework.
Historians, of course, are principally concerned with unique events, and they can be inclined to wrap themselves in the isolating greatcoats of their ‘countr' and their ‘periocr. It is at least arguable, howe er, that a comparison of events, or a comparison of the way in which different societies coped with a similar problem - war, industrialisation, population growth and so forth - can rex'eal new perspectives and new questions, fhe authors of the volumes in this series have each taken an issue to explore in such a comparative framework. The books are not designed to be path-breaking monographs, though most will contain a degree of new research. The intention is, by exploring problems across national boundaries, to encourage students in tertiary education, in sixth-forms, and hopefully also the more general reader, to think critically about aspects of past developments. No author can maintain strict objectivity; nor can he or she provide definitive answers to all the questions which they explore. If the authors generate discussion and increase perception, then their task is well done.
World History
