The Endless Cycle

Dear history enthusiasts,

When this newsletter goes out, I will be on the road, heading home from my mother’s funeral. She passed away last week, in the company of loved ones, only moments after receiving her final blessing.

At first, I was reluctant to share something so personal. But then I realised that this is precisely what history is about: the endless cycle of arrival and departure, the story of those who came before us, and whom we will one day join as ancestors of those who follow.

The turbulent times we live in make it clearer than ever that history is not merely a sequence of dated stories between the covers of dusty books. We are part of it. History is being shaped right now — on the streets of Minneapolis, in the trenches of Zaporizhzhia.

Those of us who have had the privilege of spending most of our lives in peace, freedom and prosperity may remember the comforting feeling of studying military history as something distant and almost exotic — as interested observers who would never be directly involved. That, it seems, was an illusion. Oppression, reckless leadership and war have returned to the foreground of human affairs.

So does our fascination with history even matter? Absolutely — now more than ever. Archaeology and the study of history and prehistory have made remarkable progress in recent decades. We can see more clearly than ever the deep roots of the forces that have brought grief and sorrow for more than seven millennia.

In a recent interview with a leading German newspaper, archaeologist Harald Meller explains why man is not a wolf to man. The human species is highly cooperative and spent the greater part of its existence living together peacefully. I have translated the interview into English. You can find it here:

This calm, research-based approach to pressing questions is what we need — not the overexcited tribal noise of asocial media, which blurs distinctions and deepens division.

May the Force be with you — and reason. Reason above all.

Roland

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