Patrick J. Geary Quotes

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The peoples of Europe are a work in progress and always must be... The history of the people of Europe has not ended — it never will. Ethnogenesis is a process of the present and future as much as it is the past. No efforts of romantics, politicians, or social scientists can preserve once and for all some essential soul of a people or nation. Nor can any effort ensure that nations, ethnic groups, and communities of today will not vanish utterly in the future. The past may have set the parameters within which one can build the future, but it cannot determine what that future must be.

Patrick J. Geary

Patrick J. Geary

Patrick J. Geary

Born: September 26, 1948 (age 76)

Bio: Patrick J. Geary is an American medieval historian and Professor of Western Medieval History at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He also holds the title of Distinguished Professor of Medieval History Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Known for:

The Myth of Nations (2002)
Civilization in the West (1991)
Furta sacra (1975)
Before France and Germany (1988)
Phantoms of Remembrance (1994)

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