The History of Silence and Other Essays

The noise and headlines of Big History are often contrasted with the unassuming lull of Small History. The juxtaposition is not entirely accurate, as Peter Englund has often shown in his writing. In this collection of essays, however, he focuses almost exclusively on Small History. With an infectious spirit of discovery, he highlights things, phenomena, emotions and everyday objects that we rarely reflect upon but which also have their history. It could be the paper clip, the toothbrush or the massage stick. It can be about suffering, fashion or desire. And sometimes there is also the Great Story, when something as small as tulip bulbs gives rise to a huge financial bubble.