How to Write the History of the New World

Download or read book How to Write the History of the New World written by Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Economist Book of the Year, 2001. In the 18th century, a debate ensued over the French naturalist Buffon’s contention that the New World was in fact geologically new. Historians, naturalists, and philosophers clashed over Buffon’s view. This book maintains that the “dispute” was also a debate over historical authority: upon whose sources and facts should naturalists and historians reconstruct the history of the New World and its people. In addressing this question, the author offers a strikingly novel interpretation of the Enlightenment.