"In a series of cogent, engaging, and provocative essays, Kerwin Klein explores why and how historians turned away from social science and philosophy to seek insights from linguistics and memory. From History to Theory is an ominous warning about the pitfalls of forsaking science for enchantment. Historians ignore it at the peril of their own profession and much else besides."--Louis S. Warren, W. Turrentine Jackson Professor of Western US History, University of California, Davis

"I know of no theorist or historian who has been able to travel across the waters separating American analytical philosophy and French theory more successfully than Klein. In this impressive collection of essays he manages to turn the question of history back on its European senders."--Claudio Fogu, author of The Historic Imaginary: Politics of History in Fascist Italy