Although this book was published in 1989 and strides in technology since that time provide different avenues of research than existed at that time, this book still contains much relevant information for researchers today. The Board of Certification for Genealogists codified many genealogical standards incorporating the use of social history in genealogical research. At the time of the book's writing, some genealogists already incorporated social history methods or research in their own family narratives. This book showed its value to many more. However, it also demonstrated the standards held by many microhistorians to those academics who might undervalue it. I found the essays by Elizabeth Shown Mills, Patricia Trainor O'Malley, Lawrence J. Kilbourne, Virginia DeJohn Anderson, and Claudia L. Bushman most interesting. The essays on naming patterns were useful to those researching in the essay's focus area. ( )