There's too little big picture history, and too much shooting down of useful generalisations.
Whig history is broadly true.
We've undergone a civilising process since the Middle Ages.
The Dark Ages were dark.
Demographics is underrated.
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Whig history is broadly true.
We've undergone a civilising process since the Middle Ages.
The Dark Ages were dark.
Demographics is underrated.
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Comments
Relatedly, much history-writing gives too country-specific explanations, ignoring cross-cultural trends.
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The Industrial Revolution was tremendously important relative to all previous changes.
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Individuals do change the course of history, but often it doesn't happen the way they planned. (E.g. Hitler.)
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It's unlikely that the West would have grown rich without substantially expanding the moral circle. It wasn't that accidental.