How to Write the History of the New World

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.

Jorge Canizares-Esguerra is Assistant Professor of History at SUNY-Buffalo.