Documents of Life was originally published in 1983 and became a classic text, providing both a persuasive argument for a particular approach and a manifesto for social research. As a critique of anti-humanist methodology in the social sciences, it championed the use of life stories and other personal documents in research which are now widely used today. This book is a substantially revised and expanded version which takes on recent developments. Providing numerous illustrations from a range of life documents, the book traces the history of the method, examines ways of 'doing life story' research, and discusses the many political and ethical issues raised by such research. The whole book has been substantially re-written and

"Maybe some people are shy about writing, but I will write the real truth. . . . Is it really possible that people at the newspaper haven't heard this. . . that we don't want to be on the kolkhoz [collective farm], we work and work, and there's nothing to eat. Really, how can we live?"-a farmer's letter, 1936, from Stalinism as a Way of Life What was life like for ordinary Russian citizens in the 1930s? How did they feel about socialism and the acts committed in its name? This unique book provides English-speaking readers with the responses of those who experienced firsthand the events of the middle-Stalinist period. The book contains 157 documents-mostly letters to authorities from Soviet citizens, but also reports compiled by the secret police and Communist Party functionaries, internal government and party memoranda, and correspondence among party officials. Selected from recently opened Soviet archives, these previously unknown documents illuminate in new ways both the complex social roots of Stalinism and the texture of daily life during a highly traumatic decade of Soviet history. Accompanied by introductory and linking commentary, the documents are organized around such themes as the impact of terror on the citizenry, the childhood experience, the countryside after collectivization, and the role of cadres that were directed to "decide everything." In their own words, peasants and workers, intellectuals and the uneducated, adults and children, men and women, Russians and people from other national groups tell their stories. Their writings reveal how individual lives influenced-and were affected by-the larger events of Soviet history.

Arnold Schoenberg’s close involvement with many of the principal developments of twentieth-century music, most importantly the break with tonality and the creation of twelve-tone composition, generated controversy from the time of his earliest works to the present day. This authoritative new collection of Schoenberg’s essays, letters, literary writings, musical sketches, paintings, and drawings offers fresh insights into the composer’s life, work, and thought. The documents, many previously unpublished or untranslated, reveal the relationships between various aspects of Schoenberg’s activities in composition, music theory, criticism, painting, performance, and teaching. They also show the significance of events in his personal and family life, his evolving Jewish identity, his political concerns, and his close interactions with such figures as Gustav and Alma Mahler, Alban Berg, Wassily Kandinsky, and Thomas Mann. Extensive commentary by Joseph Auner places the documents and materials in context and traces important themes throughout Schoenberg’s career from turn-of-century Vienna to Weimar Berlin to nineteen-fifties Los Angeles.

The cultural and narrative turn has had a considerable impact upon research in the social sciences as well as in the arts and humanities, with Ken Plummer's Documents of Life constituting a central text in the turn towards to narrative, biographical and qualitative methodologies, challenging and changing the nature of research in sociology and further afield. Bringing together the latest research on auto/biographical and narrative methods, Documents of Life Revisited offers a sympathetic yet critical engagement with Plummer's work, exploring a range of different kinds of life documents and delineating a critical humanist methodology for researching and writing about these. A rich examination of the methods and methodologies associated with contemporary research in the social sciences and humanities, this book will be of interest to those concerned with the use and importance of biographical and narrative sources and documents of life investigations. As such, it will appeal to sociologists, social anthropologists and geographers, as well as scholars of cultural studies and cultural history, literary studies and library, archive and cultural management, social policy and medical studies.

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Who did the ancient Greeks describe as the world's best athlete? What does the Koran say about women's rights? How has the digital revolution changed life in the modern age? From the law courts of ancient Iraq to bloody Civil War battlefields, explore the daily lives of people from major world cultures throughout history, as presented in their own words. Bringing useful and engaging material into world history classrooms, this rich collection of historical documents and illustrations provides insight into major cultures from all continents. Hundreds of thematically organized, annotated primary documents, and over 100 images introduce aspects of daily life throughout the world, including domestic life, economics, intellectual life, material life, politics, religion, and recreation, from antiquity to the present. Document selections are guided by the National Standards for World History, providing a direct tie to the curriculum. Analytical introductions explain the key features and background of each document, and create links between documents to illustrate the interrelationship of thoughts and customs across time and cultures. Volume 1: The Ancient World covers the major civilizations from ancient Sumeria (3000 BCE) through the fall of Imperial Rome (476 CE), including Egypt, Greece, and Israel, and also covers China and India during the births of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Volume 2: The Middle Ages and Renaissance covers the development of European culture from the Germanic migrations of the fifth century CE through the university movement of the late middle ages, and the sixteenth-century growth of global empires and the collapse of the kingship in seventeenth-century England. Also covered are the Native empires of the Americas and the rise of Islamic culture throughout the Middle East and Africa. Volume 3: The Modern World spans the period from the Enlightenment through modern Internet era and global economy, including the founding of the United States, colonial and post-colonial life in Latin America and Africa, and the growth of international cultures and new economies in Asia. Document sources include: The code of Hammurabi, The Manu Smrti, Seneca's On Mercy, Josephus's Jewish Antiquities, The Koran, Dante's Divine Comedy, Bernal Diaz del Castillo's The True History of the Conquest of Mexico, The Travels of Marco Polo, Brahmagupta's principles of mathematics and astronomy, The Mayan Popul Vuh, the diary of a Southern plantation wife during the Civil War, and letters from an American soldier in Vietnam Thematically organized sections are supplemented with a glossary of terms, a glossary of names, a timeline of key events, and an annotated bibliography. Document selections are guided by the National Standards for World History, providing a direct tie to the curriculum. This collection is an invaluable source for students of material history, social history, and world history.