Imperial Unknowns

Cornel Zwierlein is a Professor in the Department of History at Bochum University, Germany. He completed his Ph.D. in 2003 at the University of Munich. From 2013 to 2015 he was a Fellow at Harvard University's History Department (Henkel/EU) and in 2014 was a Fellow at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge.

• Introduction; 1. Politics and economy: nationalizing economics; 2. Religion: empires ignoring, learning, forgetting religions; 3. History: how to cope with unconscious ignorance; 4. Science: Mediterranean empires and scientific unknowns; Conclusion; Bibliography.

'Imperial Unknowns is a thoroughly fascinating book. Zwierlein has succeeded in linking the history of mercantilism, religion, historical knowledge and science in the Mediterranean, and he has demonstrated convincingly that a study of what historical actors did not know is as important as the study of what they did know. … In addition, Imperial Unknowns represents an important contribution to Mediterranean historiography.' Dzavid Dzanic, Mediterranean Historical Review