ABSTRACT
O ur decision to state our interpretation and to reveal its underpinnings at the outset o f this study means that, at this point, we have neither a plot to unravel nor a surprise to spring. However, it is easy for authors to suppose that their pre sentation is as clear to others as it is to themselves. O ur signposts to different centuries and continents may sometimes have suggested directions other than those we intended, and our argument may no t always have been as visible as we would have wished, especially since it has been spread over nearly 700 pages. C on sequently, these concluding remarks will try to set out our principal claims in a way that removes any residual uncertainties, makes some o f the w ider implications o f the argument explicit, and ensures that we ourselves do not end, unintentionally, in ‘the last dyke o f prevarication’.1
