Episode 16: Emma Rothschild’s Generational Portrait of France

“History from below” is usually an effort at social history seen through statistics and figures. Our guest this week, Emma Rothschild, takes a different approach in her new book, An Infinite History: The Story of a Family in France Over Three Centuries, by recounting a vast narrative at times resembling a period novel. What does this story tell us about the events that transpired, about the nature of time and history, and about what should matter to us today in an increasingly atomized world?

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