By critiquing the work of Alain Badiou, Francoise Proust, Christian Jambet, Guy Lardreau and Jacques Ranciere - and drawing on a wealth of philosophy, literature, history and art - Andrew Gibson develops a new theory of historical time. In different ways, these philosophers all work with a concept of the historical ‘event’ as an extraordinary occurrence which shatters established historical formations and promises new historical beginnings.