Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History

Silencing the Past is a thought-provoking analysis of historical narrative. Taking examples ranging from the Haitian Revolution to Columbus Day, Michel-Rolph Trouillot demonstrates how power operates, often invisibly, at all stages in the making of history to silence certain voices.

"Makes the postmodernist debate come alive."

--Choice
"Trouillot, a widely respected scholar of Haitian history . . . is a first-rate scholar with provocative ideas . . . Serious students of history should find his work a feast for the mind."


--Jay Freedman, Booklist
"Elegantly written and richly allusive, . . . Silencing the Past is an important contribution to the anthropology of history. Its most lasting impression is made perhaps by Trouillot's own voice--endlessly agile, sometimes cuttingly funny, but always evocative in a direct and powerful, almost poetic way."


--Donald L. Donham, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
"A sparkling interrogation of the past. . . . A beautifully written, superior book."


--Foreign Affairs
"Silencing the Past is a polished personal essay on the meanings of history. . . . [It] is filled with wisdom and humanity."


--Bernard Mergen, American Studies International
"An eloquent book."


--Choice
"Written with clarity, wit, and style throughout, this book is for everyone interested in historical culture."


--Civilization
"A beautifully written book, exciting in its challenges."


--Eric R. Wolf
"Aphoristic and witty, . . . a hard-nosed look at the soft edges of public discourse about the past."


--Arjun Appadurai