Time Maps

More about the book

Who were the first inhabitants of North America? Does the West Bank belong to Arabs or Jews? Why are racists fixated on origins? Did the September 11 attacks signify the end of an era or the start of a new one? Eviatar Zerubavel explores these pressing questions in a groundbreaking examination of collective memory. He investigates the cognitive patterns that shape our understanding of the past, the mental strategies that connect disparate events into coherent narratives, and the social dynamics involved in conflicting historical interpretations. Using compelling examples from Hiroshima to the Holocaust, Watergate to the West Bank, and ancient Rome to the former Yugoslavia, Zerubavel illustrates how we construct historical origins and organize time into stories. He explains how we connect discontinuous events into eras, link families and nations through genealogies, and distinguish historical periods through significant milestones, such as the invention of fire or the fall of the Berlin Wall. Challenging conventional wisdom, such as the belief that the Roman Empire ended in 476, this work offers valuable insights for anyone interested in how our understanding of history is shaped.