On the Danger of Eras in Academic Writing

Beware of eras in academic writing. When an academic proposes that a particular field has gone through a series of eras, she is potentially rewriting history. Indeed, she is at very least using a form of mental short hand, and this shorthand can foster a caricature of reality. Do not trust arbitrary periodization. Moreover, beware of histories in general. Histories are illusions of the past shaped by the present.