Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History

A deluxe hardcover edition of the pioneering classic that explores the contexts in which history is produced—now part of the HBO docuseries Exterminate All the Brutes, written and directed by Raoul Peck

A Beacon Classics edition, featuring a spot gloss cover and retro, classic palette

Placing the West’s failure to acknowledge the Haitian Revolution—the most successful slave revolt in history—alongside denials of the Holocaust and the debate over the Alamo, Michel-Rolph Trouillot offers a stunning meditation on how power operates in the making and recording of history.

This modern classic resides at the intersection of history, anthropology, Caribbean, African-American, and post-colonial studies, and has become a staple in college classrooms around the country. Trouillot analyzes the silences in our historical narratives, what is left out and what is recorded, what is remembered and what is forgotten, and what these silences reveal about inequalities of power. With exacting precision, he exposes forces less visible—but no less powerful—than gunfire, property, and political crusades in shaping the production of history.