Very few books dig so deeply into the feelings and experiences that really drive historians. Still less do they explore how events in distant ages, in seemingly distant cultures, can touch the modern reader. "The Terror of History" does this. Ruiz's voice is very much that of a teacher and scholar committed to the exploration of the human condition. This is a rich book."--Peter Brown, Princeton University"This is a fascinating and very special book."--Jes?'s Rodr guez-Velasco, Columbia University