Mark E. Blum is a professor of European history at the University of Louisville. He has a master's degree in English history from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in Austrian-German history from the University of Pennsylvania. He has published over nine books, several focusing upon the epistemology of human consciousness in its verbal as well as figural foundations.
“Blum’s vision is as panoramic as the title suggests, moving freely among fields usually kept separate from Pufendorff to Elfriede Jelinek. The work will stimulate discussion and controversy, as ambitious projects always do. It will interest anyone who values the European tradition of grand meta-historical thinking. Whatever one’s verdict on Blum's “metaparadigms,” it is heartening to see the revival of a genre that had once seemed defunct.” — Hans Kellner, Professor of English, Chair of the NCSU Faculty, North Carolina State University, USA