I'm an ordinary guy with an interest in History. I'm quite fed-up with Great-Man History. Economic history and political history I like, but mostly together, mixed with cultural or social history. If I browse my local library (in Sweden) or national internet publishers, mostly what you find is political history and Great-Man History. I was wondering if there is some kind of clever way of finding more "people's history", that is, cultural and social history, on varied topics, in this jungle that often focuses mostly on the big. BTW, I'm not including Marxist history in this question, even though I'd take that as well, if you've some good tips (I find puritan determinism exasperating, however.)
I don't usually hang out here, so I hope my question is not out of place! Thanks in advance!
In the US, you'll find that kind of thing put out by university presses. Maybe try browsing the websites for some university presses and see if they have topics that interest you or see if a local university or college lets members of the community access and check out books (most of the universities in the US will let community members have access for a small annual fee). The downfall of that approach is that the books are often written for academics. Some people are fine with the writing style and other people find it really dense and dry (those opinions will also vary from book to book--some academics have a beautifully accessible writing style that are great for a non-academic audience, while other scholar's writing styles make even the most dedicated academics want to jam a pen in their eye).
Do you mind reading in English? Also what topics are you interested in? Is it just colonial American history, or are you interested in European stuff, etc?