Historicism is the essential introduction to the field, providing its readers with the necessary knowledge, background and vocabulary to apply it in their own studies. Paul Hamilton's compact and comprehensive guide:

* explains the theory and basics of historicism
* presents a history of the term and its uses
* introduces the reader to the key thinkers in the field, from ancient Greece to modern times
* considers historicism in contemporary debates and its relevance to other modes of criticism, such as feminism and post-colonialism
* contains an extensive bibliography of further reading.

'The book itself is open to possibility, and it opens its readers to the possibility - indeed to the probability - that they will produce a ciriticism that is thinking, vital, vigorous, committed, located.'es in Literary Criticism Studi

Paul Hamilton is Professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London.