"The idea of 'progress' is not without bias."
"The question of motive and context are crucial when deciding how far to believe a contemporary account."
"So much of war is about nerve and morale and avoiding panic."
"Looking at history has a way of putting our circumstances in better perspective...premodern dentistry alone is enough to convince me that things are pretty good now."
I started this book exactly 6 days before Covid Got Real (in my world.) I wanted to read it because I've listened to some Hardcore History with Andrew, and I certainly like his story-telling approach to things, and I liked even more the idea of his words contained in a focused, succinct book, because my attention span is often no match for the podcast.
The first two chapters were my favorite. I loved the questions he raised about toughness, like: Do tough times make more resilient, even virtuous, people? Considering how different cultures have different definitions of and morality assigned to the concept is fascinated. I was then absorbed by the questions about how different child-rearing practices might have affected people in different cultures, because of differing interpretations of said practices. All of this reflection on what is truly timeless and what is culture-based is so interesting, especially for one always on the lookout for how to have a better hermaneutic for a text in which a deity identifies himself as Father.
Each chapter after that is a vignette of a different point in history defined by sudden transformation, either "progress" or "fall." I didn't really get into the main part of the book until it became available on Scribd as an audiobook, and I think listening to Dan Carlin narrate was the ideal way to consume this book. The point of all of these historical snapshots was well-made and hard-hitting: the people described here probably didn't expect their city to be taken, or their way of life to suddenly change any more than we do now (or did a few weeks ago, when our sense of control and security in predictable comfort were even greater than they are now.) It's so easy for us in our current age to think that we are uniquely unassailable... but every country conquered, every culture with a sudden change to their way of life thrust upon them probably thought the same thing too.
@tonyreinke has pointed out in one of his books that our current relationship with digital media has made us lose our place in history and gives us a "miscalibrated time stamp." I think maybe one of the applications of that concept is this: when something terrible happens in our lives or especially in the world at large (like, say, a global pandemic), it can be easy for some of us to think that this is the first time the world has ever seen something like it. (Am I talking about myself, confessed history ignoramus and stereotypical millennial, obsessed with having feelings about my feelings? ((This idea is from @iamdavidkessler on @artofmanliness podcast, and yes, I feel seen.)) Why, yes, I think so.) Reading this book was oddly comforting to me because it showed that humanity has survived far worse changes in the past. I also learned a lot!
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