Reasons for Our Rhymes provides a chronological overview of the major philosophical approaches to history. Clearly presenting the ideas and influence of each thinker covered, Robert Herrera surveys the major paradigms in the philosophy of history—from St. Augustine and Joachim to Bossuet and Vico, from Hegel and Marx to Soloviev, Berdyaev, and the post-historians.
In addition to introducing the most significant thinkers in the field, Herrera also pursues the idea that variations in theory run parallel to modifications in the notion of God. As the discussion moves from the patristic age to the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance and into the modern period, Herrera shows how each new interpretation of history has progressively transformed the God of the Scriptures first into the notion of "Providence" and then into the concept of "Progress."

Both an excellent introduction to the philosophy of history and a compelling analysis of the history of ideas, Reasons for Our Rhymes will interest readers from a wide range of disciplines.