A Guide to Surviving Interesting Times: Lessons from an Unpredictable Past

Abstract: This essay suggests that, since the mid-twentieth century, innovations in the ways historians make sense of the past both reflect and respond to significant changes in politics, economics, and society. It also argues that although historians cannot resolve the present crisis, they can contribute to make it legible. This is not because of what they know but thanks to the skillset they rely on to reconstruct and interpret the past: attention to context and evidence, shifting perspectives, openness to debate.