Making History Count: A Primer in Quantitative Methods for Historians [Book Review]

Abstract

This is the best textbook on statistical methods ever written for a historical audience, Realizing that computers can relieve the burden of most calculations, and that equations often frighten many historians whose work and comprehension of others' work would benefit from more than a passing acquaintance with statistics, Feinstein and Thomas require that their readers have only a general familiarity with high-school algebra, and they include no mathematical proofs. They offer clear, well-illustrated, and exceptionally well-presented intuitive explanations of the basic methods employed to analyze much historical data, particularly economic data, along with well-designed exercises using real or invented, but plausible, historical information. They return again and again to four case studies downloadable without charge from the Cambridge University Press website for further analysis and practice. Well-written and jargon-free, neither simplistic nor patronizing, offering acute advice on research design, as well as on statistical techniques, this work is equally appropriate for the classroom or self-study.