The author raises questions concerning the phenomenon of manifestos in science and specifi c theses advanced by the authors of The History Manifesto. The fi rst question is whether a manifesto on the role of historiography in the contemporary world, calling for a revival of a certain seemingly bygone ideal of science, symbolised by the works of Fernand Braudel, can be the subject of scientifi c criticism at all. The second question is whether the diagnosis of a crisis in the role of history as an expert science is accurate, and whether its claims to this role are altogether valid in the modern world.