James Harvey Robinson retains an honored place in the annals of American historiography as the champion of, and leading spokesman for, the "New History." His challenge to the "scientific history" that was the dominant orthodoxy among the first generation of American professional historians in the late nineteenth century revolved around a complex of interrelated propositions. In the first place, he called for broadening the scope of historical study beyond politics, wars, and formal institutions to include the full range of mankind's activities and experiences. Second, he proclaimed that history must deal with the dynamic rather than the static. The crux of what he would call the "genetic" approach was that history should be viewed not as a series of discrete events and occurrences, but rather as a process of continuing, and continuous, development. Accordingly, the historian should go beyond simply describing what had been to explaining how things...