The Curse of the Historian

And Its Three Forms

History is both the most and least useful field of study within the body of human knowledge. All studies of the humanities are in some form history at varying levels of abstraction from the simple rote recording of shopping lists and court disputes. The body of Law which underpins our current civilization is merely a study of history tailored to specific situations. All of us in this sphere have studied history, either formally or freely, and the higher baseline knowledge of such is one of our best assets.

It’s also our greatest curse.

The Historian plays a vital role within Civilization, though his role is more specialized compared to those of more generalist scholars of yester-era. This role, however, is neither immediately nor easily understood, even by those who take a study of the course of human events either tacitly or passionately. The role of Historian is the arranging of past facts in such a way that insight into present realities can be discovered, and in this way, those realities can be manipulated.