Henri H. Stahl – un sociolog constructor de istorie. Perspectiva unui istoric budapestan

The purpose of this review is to present an anthology – published in Hungarian – of significant excerpts from the work of Henri H. Stahl. This anthology was edited by the Budapest historian Ambrus Miskolczy, and is the fourth of its kind, after the ones in France, Italy, and the United States. After recalling the influence of the historian Nicolae Iorga and of the social democratic ideology on the young Henri H. Stahl, another decisive impact on Stahl was the rural sociological research led by Dimitrie Gusti, as illustrated in the fragments chosen to be included in the book. The review provides more space to Stahl’s original theory of exploring the past from the present towards the past. This approach to historical sociology led Stahl to the conclusion that the Romanian Middle Ages differed significantly from the same period in the West. The anthology also contains articles against unscientific positions, which were current in the 1930s and 1980s. The anthology itself and its introductory study – published in 1992 – remain valid to this day.