My History Writing Was Based On What

We Know What Things Cost But Have No Idea What They Are Worth.

My History Writing Was Based On What I Saw In Strange, Exotic Places Rather Than Just Reading Books.

If We Have Learned Nothing Else From The 20th Century, We Should At Least Have Grasped That The More Perfect The Answer, The More Terrifying Its Consequences. Incremental Improvements Upon Unsatisfactory Circumstances Are The Best That We Can Hope For, And Probably All We Should Seek.

What I Am Against Is False Optimism: The Notion Either That Things Have To Go Well, Or Else That They Tend To, Or Else That The Default Condition Of Historical Trajectories Is Characteristically Beneficial In The Long-run.

History Can Show You That It Was One Pile Of Bad Stuff After Another. It Can Also Show You That There's Been Tremendous Progress In Knowledge, Behaviour, Laws, Civilisation. It Cannot Show You That There Was A Meaning Behind It.