The Realness of Things Past

Classics for All A very ambitious piece of work. It will attract controversy, but its direction of travel in a world where modern values and concerns are too easily imposed on the ancient is to be applauded.

London Review of Books Anderson's central claim is persuasive...[His] stark reminder of the ontological unfamiliarity of the premodern world should encourage us not just to be more careful in our assumptions about democracy in the past but perhaps also about democracy in the present.

Kostas Vlassopoulos, University of Crete, Greece & Rome By challenging the idea that Athens was an early version of modern societies, Anderson raises a number of very important issues and rightly challenges a whole nexus of preconceived assumptions; even if one disagrees with some of his answers, this is a thought-provoking book that must be read and engaged with widely.

Mark Roblee, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 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.

Greg Anderson holds degrees from the Newcastle and London Universities in his native UK and a PhD from Yale. He is currently Associate Professor of History at Ohio State University, where he has taught since 2005. His primary research areas are ancient Greek history, historical thought, and critical theory.

Preface Figures Introduction: Retrieving a Lost World of the Past Part One: Losing Athens in Translation Chapter One: Our Athenian Yesterdays Chapter Two: A World of Contradictions Chapter Three: Missing Objects Chapter Four: Historicism and its Consequences Chapter Five: Beyond Cultural History Part Two: The Many Real Worlds of the Past Chapter Six: Other Ways of Being Human Chapter Seven: The Anomalous Foundations of Modern Being Chapter Eight: Ethnographies of the Present Chapter Nine: Ontological History Part Three: Life in a Cosmic Ecology Chapter Ten: The Metaphysics of Polis Community Chapter Eleven: Governed by Gods Chapter Twelve: The Cells of the Social Body Chapter Thirteen: Living as One Liked Chapter Fourteen: The Cares of a Corporate Self Chapter Fifteen: The Circulation of Life's Resources Chapter Sixteen: Being in a Different World Conclusion: New Horizons of History and Critique Bibliography