Kelley proclaims his unconventional approach when he concludes , "This book ends where most accounts of the modern study of history begin - that is with the rise of historicism" (273). But his discussion of historicism epitomizes the extent to which the great strength of the book - the lightness of touch that enables him to signpost without systetirizing - borders on becoming a weakness. After a learned discourse on the many confused meanings of "historicism," Kelly attempts to capture its essence by stating, "The spirit of Herodotus presided over modern historicism" (268). Taken in context, this assertion makes prefer sense, yet it embodies a touch so light as to be almost slippery, one that risks sliding over distinctions in the very act of making them