This article discusses a number of scholarly trends that fall under the rubric of global history, with particular regard for those that address the early modern period (c.1400–1800). It stresses the rubric’s lack of coherence from both a methodological and ideological perspective. Most importantly, it revisits longstanding debates about the intersection of microanalysis and global history by assessing landmark works by Italian microhistorians, scholars of the so-called great divergence, and historians of climate and the environment. In so doing, it also asks how recent contributions build on insights that classic studies had already yielded – at least on the margins of the profession – beginning in the 1970s.

本文讨论了一些属于全球历史主题的学术趋势，特别关注那些涉及早期现代时期（约1400-1800 年）的学术趋势。它从方法论和意识形态的角度强调了标题缺乏连贯性。最重要的是，它通过评估意大利微观历史学家、研究所谓大分歧的学者以及气候和环境历史学家的里程碑式著作，重新审视了关于微观分析与全球历史交叉的长期争论。在这样做的同时，它还询问了最近的贡献如何建立在经典研究已经产生的见解之上——至少在专业的边缘——从 1970 年代开始。