Burke Chapters 3 & 4

In chapter 3, Burke introduces the reader to Fernand Braudel and the second generation of the Annales.  Inspired by his "intellectual father," Lucien Febvre, Braudel,  took a new approach to his thesis about King Philip II and the Mediterranean by taking a different approach to history. His massive book which is in three parts covers the history of the relationship between man and the environment, economic, social and political structures, and finishes with what he intended as his original thesis, the fast moving history of events during the reign of King Philip II. This was done purposely to show that the history of events can only be understood through Geo-history.

Aside from his thesis, Braudel became the director of the Annales and inspired many younger historians to take yet another set of new approaches to history. It is during the second generation of the Annales that there is a rise in the history of material cultures, geo-history, and a deeper look into economic history. The second generation also led to a rise in the use of quantitative and demographic history as well. This led the way into new trends of religious history, cultural history, the history of mentalities, the history of prices and population.

In chapter 4, Burke introduces the reader to the third generation of the Annales. It is during this third generation in which the Annales spews off into three different directions. Not only was this the first generation to include women but, it also took Febvre's ideologies to a new level by the splintering off of the history of mentalities to include historical psychology and the study of family, emotions, and health. The second change was a return to the scholarship in political and historical biography. The third direction, which wasn't entirely new but much debated, was the quantitative approach to history especially in the subjects of religion, books and literacy.