This review essay describes the results — and the limits — of studies applying network analysis to historical data. Most of the papers reviewed deal either with family and strong ties or with social and political movements. Research on the “world-system”, citation studies and papers on interlocking directorates are more briefly described. The author promotes network analysis as a mere tool, complementary to other types of analysis. She points to the specific results of this technique, which may help to discover gaps and hierarchies inside networks, to study their construction and dynamics and the relationships between networks and identities.