About the Author

Michel-Rolph Trouillot (1949-2012) was one of the most prominent Haitian scholars working in the United States. He was the director of the Institute for Global Studies in Culture, Power, and History and Krieger/Eisenhower Distinguished Professor in anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. Hazel V. Carby is the Charles C. and Dorothea S. Dilley Professor of African American Studies, professor of American studies, and director of the Initiative on Race, Gender and Globalization at Yale University.

Reviews

“A sparkling interrogation of the past. . . . A beautifully written, superior book.”
—Foreign Affairs
 
“Trouillot is a first-rate scholar with provocative ideas. . . . His work [is] a feast for the mind.”
—Jay Freeman, Booklist

“Now that so many grand projects of the past are up for reappraisal, Michel-Rolph Trouillot interrogates history, to ask how histories are, in fact, produced. . . . A beautifully written book, exciting in its challenges.”
—Eric. R. Wolf

“An accessible book filled with wisdom and humanity.”
—Bernard Mergen, American Studies International

“Aphoristic and witty, [Silencing the Past] shows that the two senses in which history is made, by doers and by tellers, meet in moments of evidentiary silence. . . . A hard-nosed look at the soft edges of public discourse about the past.”
—Arjun Appadurai

“Written with clarity, wit, and style throughout, this book is for everyone interested in historical culture.”
—American Historical Review

“[Trouillot was] a transformative presence in multiple fields [who] redefined the meaning of scholarship. . . . Trouillot taught us all how to read carefully, argue passionately, and write responsibly.”
—Colin Dayan, Boston Review