The renowned historian and author of Our America shares "an idiosyncratic exploration of...human history and various cultures' notions of truth" ( Publishers Weekly ). What is truth? And how do we even approach such a question? It is a problem that has vexed thinkers and scholars of all cultures for millennia. Now Felipe Fernández-Armesto delves into the long and fascinating history of the human quest for truth. Sharp and authoritative, Truth manages to touch every period of human experience; it leaps from truth-telling technologies of "primitive" societies to the private mental worlds of great philosophers; from spiritualism to science and from New York to New Guinea. In clear, lucid prose, this little book takes on an enormous subject and makes it understandable to anyone.