1960s that a new generation of scholars, undoubtedly influenced by the chaotic social changes surrounding them, began to find important meaning in the promise of psychology applied to history and history applied to psychology.This is not to say, of course, that no major work in psychohistory was accomplished prior to the sixties. On the contrary, as the articles in part one of this book clearly demonstrate, a firm body of relevant psycho- historical material has been accumulating for some time.But in scholarly academic circles the wheels of change grind ex- ceedingly slowly. Although various individual studies in psycho- biography, for example, could be recognized and applauded for their intrinsic value, the idea that psychology and history could be intimately joined together for anything more than occasional idiosyncratic in- vestigations was hardly acceptable: Does the lion lie down with the lamb? As some of us know to our pain, there is no primate more jealous of its territory than homo scholasticus.Yet there is now firm evidence demonstrating that the intimate relationship between history and psychology has yielded a thriving academic offspring. Thus:
1.
According to a recent survey, courses in psychohistory are currently offered at approximately thirty major colleges and universities, and this number is growing rapidly. 3
2.
At national professional meetings of the American Historical Association, the American Psychological Association, and Cheiron, an increasing amount of time is being devoted to matters of psychohistory.
3.
3. Two scholarly journals (The History of Childhood Quarterly and The Journal of Interdisciplinary History) are devoted in full or in part to psychohistorical research, and a newsletter is issued regularly by the Group for the Use of Psychology in History.
4.
An increasing number of books is available, containing either specific studies in psychohistory or general perspectives on the field itself.
The present volume falls in the latter category. It has grown out of our collaborative efforts, beginning in 1967, both to conduct original research in psychohistory and to develop appropriate courses for in- terested students. As will be made clear in detail later, the book provides newcomers to psychohistory with a broad introduction to the various branches of this field: theory and methods, psychobiography, childhood history, and group processes.
A more primary issue, however, concerns the basis for interest in psychohistory. Why does it attract professional scholars and laymen
-2-
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Publication Information: Book Title: Varieties of Psychohistory. Contributors: George M. Kren - editor, Leon H. Rappoport - editor. Publisher: Springer Publishing. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 1976. Page Number: 2.
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