A poisonous past, Giovanni and Lusanna, and Montaigne all undermine modern conceptions of certain subjects. Montaigne challenges the preconceived notion of cannibals. The micro-story allows the reader to believe that the savages are more civilized than European society because they imitated the cruelty of the Europeans. Additionally, savages are portrayed as pure, where they do not modify human nature like Europeans. A Poisoned Past and Giovanni and Lusanna highlight the power a woman actually had in court in medieval times. The power that women held actually went beyond the modern conception relayed in school textbooks. Although these two micro-stories illustrate the power of women in the justice systems, women's lives were not easy. Montaillou points out how women did not have much freedom, Bednarski writes a successful micro-story, A Poisoned Past, because he understands and highlights the disadvantages of a micro-story. Bednarski understands that there is no single truth about the past. Instead, several competing reconstructions exist and Bednarski tries to choose the most logical reconstruction of the story. This logical reconstruction allows Bednarski to create a precise micro-history. Additionally, Bednarski shows his readers that a successful narrative creates a story while filling in the gaps in the