About

Welcome to my rudimentary understanding of history as I learn (or relearn) the events that shaped our societies.

“History, like love, is so apt to surround her heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary brightness.”

James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

I can’t say that I was a particularly great student of history, or social studies, or any number of subjects that are relevant to understanding the intricacies of society. While I know there are a number of events and topics that would have been taught to me, on some level, back when I was in school, I certainly didn’t retain most of it. But, there were also a number of historic events that were glossed over in or outright omitted from my formal education – things that I never had an opportunity to learn (though it’s fair to assume I probably wouldn’t have done a great job learning them at the time anyway).

Amidst all the excitement of 2020 (the COVID-19 pandemic, protests for racial equality and against police violence, social media arguments over political views, etc), I thought it’d be beneficial if I gave this history thing another go. I’ve made attempts at being more “socially aware” in adulthood – being more politically active and trying to stay informed with current events – but never really looked back at history and all the lessons the subject holds for the present.

Note taking is one of those fundamental skills for retaining information, so I’m doing my best to take some notes as I read through all this old information that’s new to me. While my interpretation of some of these histories may be flawed in some regards (I work in IT – history and political sciences aren’t the things I’ve built my livelihood on), I’m certainly trying to understand it as accurately as possible – being sure to pool information from multiple sources to develop a more balanced idea of the facts.

I have a short attention span and have trouble absorbing information, and I know I’m not alone in this, so I’m going to try my best to take my notes and relay these stories of history (as best and accurately as I understand it) in bite-sized blog posts. My goal here is to take this history as I learn it and share it with anyone else interested in expanding their knowledge of humanity’s past.