“THE NORMAL EXCEPTION” (B)

“MICROANALYSIS AND SOCIAL HISTORY” (1977)

EDOARDO GRENDI, translated by Francesca Trivellato

History and Theory 65, no. 1 (2026)

“The normal exception” has long been a slogan of microhistory. This oxymoronic phrase is the iconic rendering of an incidental sentence that appeared in a 1977 article published by Edoardo Grendi in the Italian journal Quaderni storici, which functioned as the incubator of Italian microhistory. Grendi's article, titled “Micro-analisi e storia sociale” (Microanalysis and Social History), is here translated into English for the first time. Although foundational to the project of Italian microhistory, the article is not entirely self-explanatory. A companion piece by Francesca Trivellato in this issue of History and Theory places this contribution in the context of the historiographical debates of the time, traces its influence, examines the controversies it generated, and points to some of its continued heuristic potentials.

Photo by Chris Barbalis