达恩顿的书籍史研究致力于法国大革命的思想起源。分为四种进路:心态史和人类学的方法,出版和贸易的研究,下层知识分子的文坛生活,传播方式和公共舆论研究。他善于借鉴社会科学理论方法,包括人类学、知识社会学、传播社会学、后现代理论等,建构起书籍史的“循环交流”模型。其书籍史研究亦称为阅读史研究。 Darndon’s book history studies devoted to the origin of the thought of the French Revolution. Divided into four approaches: the psychology of history and anthropology methods, publishing and trade research, the lower literary literary life, mode of transmission and public opinion research. He is good at borrowing theories and methods of social sciences, including anthropology, sociology of knowledge, sociology of communication, and postmodern theory, to construct a “cycle exchange” model of book history. His book history research is also called reading history research.