Fernand Braudel and the Structures in Everyday Life

Abstract

In his book, Fernand Braudel turns our attention, as historians, from kings, conquerors, and other “great men,” and diplomacy to the everyday lives of ordinary people and such things as their bread consumption and eating habits. That is, he is interested in the “little things one hardly notices” that play such an important, but generally neglected (by historians), role in history. The passage by Hedrick Smith on the role of vodka is used as an example of how seemingly unimportant topics can reveal a great deal about Russian everyday life, character, and culture.