Hi Steve,
As you know, I've been following the same thread. I will freely admit that I am not an historian, although I have read a fair amount of history (mainly ancient history). I have always been partial to the microhistorical school coming out of Carlo Ginzburg's work. I first came across his work when I was working on my MA and I read the Night Battles and Ecstacies. Absolutely brilliant in my opinion.
Still and all, I think that his work has some excellent applications in the study of small wars - especially in attempts to reconstruct the "losers" side. I was particularly impressed with the concept of Gizburg's Razor - "All else being equal, the scenario / interpretation that requires the fewest amount of additional hypotheses is the most plausible". Then again, both Ginzburg and I do tend to deal with periods where it is hard to interview people .
Marc
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