How do you write history when it's no longer linear? In Bloodrites of the Post-Structuralists, respected political theorist Anne Norton reminds us of the real interplay between words (laws, scriptures, myths, and texts), and the world of flesh. Drawing from sources as diverse as foundational myths from Sarah in the bible, Marat in his death bath, and thinkers like Hegel and Foucault, Norton reinterprets the relationship between word and flesh and places it in historical context. The French and English Revolutions, as well as the period of anti-colonialism and post-colonialism are used to frame her discussion of word and body, and their historical significance.