| dc.description.abstract | Aryan Idols, Stefan Arvidsson’s impressive historiography of the “Indo-European discourse,” courageously takes on the task of de-mythologizing that discourse and looking anew at its past influences and its present (and future) implications. “Myth transforms history into fate,” he writes; “historiography reveals -- in the best case -- fate as the result of decisions made” (322). Arvidsson meticulously traces the “decisions made” from the discovery of the Indo-European language family by Sir William “Oriental” Jones in 1786 to the ideological and academic turf wars of today. He speculates provocatively about the underlying motives and long-term consequences of the decisions that Indo-European scholars have made over the course of 200 years. His project is ambitious, timely, and thought-provoking. It also offers a much-needed reminder of the perils posed when science gets into bed with ideology. | |
