After The Fact

'Suppose,' Clifford Geertz suggests, 'having entangled yourself every now and again over four decades or so in the goings-on in two provincial towns, one a Southeast Asian bend in the road, one a North African outpost and passage point, you wished to say something about how those goings-on had changed.' A narrative presents itself, a tour of indices and trends, perhaps a memoir? None, however, …