One major part of my scholarly trajectory -- & a real paradigm shift in how I think about & approach history -- was reading LeRoy Ladurie as part of a class at Smith College 20 years ago. The philosophy of the Annales school on "history from above" & the emphasis on doing long, meticulous dives into any & all extant records focused on a place is, perhaps, the origin of my current focus on biographical data & pushing back against established historiography. #historyfrombelow #scholarlytraining