Explorations in Comparative History

ix, 242 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. The present volume charts ways that may allow a larger number of historians to experiment with the comparative method. It contains articles that deal with the history and problems of comparative history as well as studies that demonstrate the potential of symmetrical, asymmetrical, parallel and cross comparisons. The studies include comparisons of the Roman and Inca empires, of Muslim networks of renewal of the eighteenth century, of serfdom in Russia and slavery in the American South, of early modern European expansion and present-day globalization, of modern welfare states, and of multiple modernities. Comparative studies of feudalism exemplify some of the method’s pitfalls. The volume concludes with a report by three faculty members on the problems encountered while teaching a course in comparative history. CONTENTS : Outlines for comparative history proposed by practicing historians / Benjamin Z. Kedar -- Comparative history: methodology and ethos / Jurgen Kocka -- Comparative history: the pivot of historiography / Diego Olstein -- The scope of comparison: the Roman, Spanish and Inca empires / Sabine MacCormack -- The meeting of worlds: did early modern expansion lead to globalization? / Tamar Herzog -- Questions of comparability: Russian serfdom and American slavery / Michael Confino -- Eighteenth-century globalization: renewal and reform in Islam / Nehemia Levtzion -- The modern Japanese political system -- a comparative view / S.N. Eisenstadt -- Globalization and the welfare state / Peter Baldwin -- The use of feudalism in comparative history / Susan Reynolds -- Teaching comparative history: a course on Christian, Muslim and Jewish women in medieval times / Elisheva Baumgarten, Esther Cohen and Ruth Roded.…