"This is a collection of essays on current questions of historiography, illustrated with reference to Islamic historiography. The main concerns are conceptions of time and temporality, the uses of the past, historical periodization, historical categorization, and the constitution of historical objects, not least those called "civilization" and "Islam." One of the aims of the book is to apply to Islamic materials the standard conceptual equipment used in historical study, and to exercise large-scale comparativist outlook."--BOOK JACKET.