Interim Intellectual History

After several decades of relative marginalization, intellectual history is enjoying something of a renaissance.  Yet surprisingly for a field whose practitioners often pride themselves on intellectual self-awareness, its star may have rise along with a decline in self-reflection.  Few recent statements, in fact, have attempted to “justify” intellectual history, to explain what makes its practice worthwhile and methodologically sound.  At this “interim” moment between a recent past that was often fractious and inward-looking in its methodological discussion and an uncertain future in which the choices and alternatives are unclear, McMahon and Moyn will discuss some of the more exciting alternatives, based on the contributions and reflections of contributors to their volume.