The Invention of Prehistory

"[A] myth-busting polemic Geroulanos doesnt think all prehistory is bad or exclusionary; he objects only to theories that claim certainty and seek legitimacy from an essentially unknowable past." -- Oliver Cussen - London Review of Books "[A] sweeping exploration of Western ideas about early humankind" -- The Economist "As Stefanos Geroulanos explains, our conception of prehistory is closely intertwined with present-day politics... The relationship between a society's imagination of prehistory and its views of indigenous peoples is Geroulanoss most engrossing theme" -- Ann Manov - The New Statesman "[A] deft and provocative book" -- Darrin M McMahon - Literary Review "The strength of Mr. Geroulanoss book lies in its breadth. It ranges easily from the pseudoscience of Freud and Jung (for both of whom idiosyncratic notions of prehistory were important) to Nazi obsessions with origins, Unesco debates about racism and modern feminist strains of social theory. Mr. Geroulanos has a good ear for prose and a knack for defamiliarizing expressions that should seem stranger: His pages on the phrase the thin veneer of civilization, for example, are extraordinary. The book is lavishly and thoughtfully supplied with illustrations that enrich the discussion. . . . The problem of prehistory remains enormous, indeed, and it is humbling to be reminded of its abuses. Mr. Geroulanos has done so vividly." -- Kyle Harper - The Wall Street Journal "History may not be bunk, but prehistory is: So argues Stefanos Geroulanos in his spirited new book... The more you want to upend the status quo, the more likely youll be to venerate an idyllic past. The reverse is also true: The more you want to preserve the status quo, the more likely youll be to scorn the past as horrific or, at least, unsustainable. Geroulanos traces the long history of Europeans depicting Indigenous and colonized peoples as savage thereby rationalizing every violent measure used against them, from brutality to annihilation." -- Jennifer Szalai - The New York Times "With careful attention to our collective accounting of our prehistoric roots, Geroulanous considers what is revealed about our present when we write about our past." -- The New Yorker "In this remarkable and enlivening study, Stefanos Geroulanos traces the development of our modern fascination with humanity's deep past, and lays out that fascination's deadly costs." -- Amia Srinivasan, author of The Right to Sex "Nimbly moving across a great expanse of space and time, The Invention of Prehistory dismantles our most widely accepted ideas about the origins of humanity. This is intellectual history as it should be written: serene in its mastery of intransigent material, yet endlessly provocative in argument, and ultimately fatal to long-cherished assumptions and prejudices." -- Pankaj Mishra "Stefanos Geroulanos reveals how the quest for human origins emerged from the imperial mandateto possess the earth and control its peoples. His subtle, passionate book steers us away from an unreal past and toward an equal, peaceful, and sustainable future for all." -- Merve Emre

Stefanos Geroulanos is the Director of the Remarque Institute and a Professor of History at New York University. The author of Transparency in Postwar France: A Critical History of the Present and other books, he lives in New York, NY.