Andrew Ginger is Professor of Comparative Studies and Vice Provost for International Engagement at Northeastern University

Introduction: From modernity to the aesthetic appreciation of history
1 Meeting: Coming together and taking shape
2 Departure: To leap beyond yet nearer bring
3 Sacrifice: Everyone must die
4 Repose: Forms of shared distraction
Index

At the heart of the book is a departure from the obsession with "modernity" that has been so prominent in nineteenth-century cultural studies.