Dust: The Archive and Cultural History (Encounters)

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Steedman begins by asserting that in recent years much attention has been paid to the archive by those working in the humanities and social sciences; she calls this practice "archivization." By definition, the archive is the repository of "that which will not go away, " and the book goes on to suggest that, just like dust, the "matter of history" can never go away or be erased.

This unique work will be welcomed by all historians who want to think about what it is they do.

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Steedman is certainly one of the more graceful writers in contemporary history, and she demonstrates a welcome sense of humor (and unpretentiousness) often missing from academic prose. While most readers will find this book fast going, one cannot help wishing that the argument was better constructed--the looseness being the inevitable result of recycling individual articles into a purportedly coherent book. (The blurb's claims about _Dust_'s "sustained argument" are, alas, somewhat overstated.) Moreover, one also wonders about the whereabouts of Rutgers' proofreaders. George Eliot's Casaubon becomes "Causubon," the Scottish Enlightenment professor of law John Millar becomes "James," and the Canadian historian of racial attitudes Douglas Lorimer becomes "Lorimer Douglas" (!). Nevertheless, historians, philosophers of history, and literary scholars should find this book both thought-provoking and useful.