Gathered here are nonfiction books, popularly referred to as "microhistories", that you'll find shelved in bookstores and libraries in a multitude of different categories: history, science, biography, natural history, fashion, psychology, anthropology, sociology, technology. . .

What they all have in common is that they focus with an intense concentration on a single subject - on "just one thing". And, in doing so, these books cast a uniquely revealing and stimulating light on the cultures, milieus, or eras surrounding that subject. Subjects obsessed on range from beer to butter, from cadavers to corsets, from fonts to fur, from gems to ghosts, from paper to pirates, from rabies to rust, from toilets to trees. . .

No matter what your favorite obsession, you'll most likely find an author on this list of rich curiosities who got there first!

• Please note that the academic definition of "microhistory" is a bit different than the popular definition and refers to a methodology of research that seeks to avoid historical generalizations by employing an extremely detailed examination of a single, otherwise obscure person, place, or event  [more. . .]. Thus the use of "Beyond" in the title of this list.
• Also note that this twelve-page list is not organized or ranked in any order - though books that must be back-ordered or pre-ordered tend to be at the end of the list and recently released or newly discovered titles tend to be at the beginning.

Please note that this twelve-page list is not organized or ranked in any order - though books that must be back-ordered or pre-ordered tend to be at the end of the list and recently-released or newly-discovered titles tend to be at the beginning.