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)