Common Threads in World History

His claim to universality rests on discovering a consistent human nature immanent in history that will allow an intelligent reader, guided by a wise and diligent historian, to interpret the future. (Kagan on Thucydides, the historian of the Peloponnesian War.) 

The purpose of studying History is not just to accumulate facts and dates, but rather to identify some common threads that will help humanity understand the past and, hopefully, shape the future in the right direction. 

This point is clearly underscored by Donald Kagan, Yale professor of History and Classics, in his article The Changing World of World Histories. (The New York Times, Book Review, p.l, Nov. 11, 1984). He writes  

After a brief, but illuminating discussion of how past historians have dealt with these issues, he closes his article as follows  

These are the important questions world historians must address, for whatever the proportions may be, a vital part of man s destiny is in his own hands, and he needs a broad and accurate picture of where he has been if he is to decide where he can and should go.  

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