A compelling and insightful argument for historical study as a way to understand and navigate the complex, often confusing world of decision-making
 
Why should people with an interest in international relations—as scholars, practitioners, or sophisticated observers—become versed in history? Much historical analysis seems to consist of thinly veiled normative judgments about the present. Still, as Francis J. Gavin argues in this remarkable book, even if its epistemology is less well defined than that of, say, law or particle physics, there is great value in acquiring a historical sensibility and learning to think historically.
 
At its most useful, history is less a narrowly defined field of study than a practice, a mental awareness, a discernment, and a responsiveness to the past and how it unfolded into our present world—a discipline in the best sense of the word. It makes us aware of how little we really know and how distrustful we should be of “master ideas” or unifying explanations. Gavin shows how a historical sensibility helps us to appreciate the unexpected; complicates our assumptions; makes the unfamiliar familiar and the familiar unfamiliar; and requires us, without entirely suspending moral judgment, to try to understand others on their own terms. This book is a powerful argument for historical study as a way for readers to apply wisdom in encountering what is foreign to them.