Oxford University Press Inc

Oxford University Press Inc

English

Anderson's thorough critique of conventional historicism will be a rewarding read for scholars interested in reflecting on their own historical practice. His radical, often polemical, posture strikes at the root of (western, modern, liberal, materialist) certainty and his approach to the past will lead us to our own "radical alterity" in the present. It is tempting to say that the work is more suitable to specialists and advanced graduate students but that would underestimate the potential for this book to raise important questions for those who continue to be taught the grand narratives of non-modern peoples whose voices we have lost. the greater strength of this important book is his invitation — and challenge — to historians to consider what an ontological turn might look like in our own research. He offers no less than a paradigm shift of seismic proportions with the potential for equally world-shaking results.