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GOODY, J., The Theft of History. Cambridge University Press, 2012. X,342p. Paperback. Series: Canto Classics. ‘In his review of efforts to place European history in global perspective, an influential British anthropologist argues that Europeans have stolen time from the rest of the world by universalising the Christian calendar and have stolen space by imposing the Mercator projection map of the glove. More important, Europeans have treated their experience as normative and superior by adopting ‘ancient’, ‘medieval’, and ‘modern’ periodization and depicting Europe as the homeland of democracy, individualism, capitalism, and love. As befits a senior scholar addressing a general readership, Jack Goody analyses the deficiencies of leading observers, whose interpretations still influence mainstream scholarship and public opinion despite a mountain of contrary evidence. More surprisingly, the author focuses on what he calls the post-Bronze age cultures of Eurasia, playing down the significance of African ‘oral cultures’ and setting aside the experience of the New World. Moses Finley (Democracy Ancient and Modern, London, 1985) depicted ‘classical’ Greece as a major departure from the archaic age and a stark alternative to the Persian Empire in ‘developing’ the epic, art, logic, and democracy. Building on Martin Bernal (Black Athena, London, 1987), Goody instead emphasises the Phoenician alphabet, the Hebrew Bible, and Egyptian sculpture, as well as contemporary achievement in Chinese moral philosophy and African and Asian responsible government. To those who say ‘classical Greece created the modern world,’ Goody responds: ‘The modern world ‘created Greece’ (p.37). (…) Goody’s ‘anthropo-archaeological approach to modern history’ (p.287) offers a valuable alternative to unilinear stages based on European experience. It is more sensible than much ‘comparative literature’ and ‘cultural studies’ that have only limited temporal and spatial relevance.’ (ROGER DES FORGES in Journal of British Studies, 2008, pp.185-187). € 17.00 (Antiquarian) (Printed on Demand) (approx. delivery time: 4 weeks) ISBN: 9781107683556