I’ll let you know! We’re looking at the assumptions of intentionalism and functionalism and it’s a really good way into the issues of causality and interpretation.
"Periods overlap. History moves at a different pace in different domains”, Jacques Le Goff wrote: “No doubt the past will resist any attempt to impose a periodization upon it.” But even he acknowledged that “certain waysof dividing it up” can be quite “illuminating”...
A wonderfully thought-provoking article. While as you wrote, "History is a long game", do you believe the "long game" is much shorter now due to technology, social media, algorithms, and now, AI?
Fascinating - will read the whole piece! Problem is that most readers prefer narratives involving human agency – stories of heroes and anti-heroes – and dramatic events. Reading about deeper structures is far less enjoyable...
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/feb/01/five-great-reads-the-contested-history-of-ymca-a-week-without-texting-and-has-the-world-reached-a-turning-point
She advised students to ‘read Braudel not Paul Samuelson’ and put forward ‘structural power’ as a way of understanding political economy