History
Oh no! I can already hear you begin to yawn, and see you stretch, get ready to hit delete on this blog post. History…boring… Does the subject conjure dusty books, antiquated items, and archaic thoughts? Perhaps long, monotone lectures in stuffy classrooms. Bells, whistles, sirens, and other alerts sound in the pages of history. From today’s perspective, it is easy to look back and say, “What the heck were they thinking when they made that decision?” But if we haven’t studied the actions of our forebears, how can we avoid repeating their errors? What do you recall of your history lessons? The evolution of art and music? The dichotomy and enmity of different religious teachings? Famous people or wars? Forced migrations of cultural groups? Or do you draw a total blank? Perhaps you learned dates, names, and other facts to regurgitate on exams but, in the process, failed to see and understand the larger processes at play which were the root cause of the rise and fall of great nations. There...