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" Cultural history" has fallen into disrepute. I Appearing at the same time, and owing its success to the growth of nationalism, the term has come to designate the goal of understanding the historical world as an array or series of distinct social groups which cohere through their participation in a common" culture." 2 The" culture" that joined these groups once seemed obvious: a common language, religious ideas, and the enjoyment of the same works or styles of (usually high) art. Their coherence, or their integration into a system, could be taken for granted. The historian's job was to define the principles of coherence in a specific culture or to analyze one aspect of culture in relation to the others. Cultural historians did not measure historical cultures by present day standards, for, as practiced at the tum of the century by hermeneutically trained historians, cultural history demanded understanding of and appreciation for …