Composing Useful Pasts discusses how history is not a settled record of the dead past, but a poetic or imaginative creation stimulated by and focused on contemporary interests.
Historical investigation is always and necessarily a selective reading of events.
This book employs a postmodern philosophy of the human sciences to show the power of historical explanation in contemporary political life. It explores issues as diverse as the interpretation of the French Revolution, the influence of Greek heritage on Western culture, and the ongoing debate about America's founding principles. The strength of this book lies in the fact that it covers a broad range of historical periods, thinkers, poets, mediums of aesthetic expression, and points of view. Common themes running through it are the crisis of modernity and the importance of Nietzsche and Heidegger in bridging historical and poetic sensibilities. He is the author of Revolutionary Humanism and Historicism in Modern Italy .