«The more you know about the past, the better your chances are of seeing which futures are possible.» This is the key premise of an outstanding lecture by historian Timothy Snyder. It’s the first in a series of ten on «Hitler and Stalin Today», which he devotes to the meta question of what history is in the first place. Or more precisely: Why bother with history? Three standout quotes:

• «If one is concerned about what is possible, history gives you a baseline because the things that happened must have been possible because they happened.»
• «If one is aware that terrible things are possible, and if one is aware of how they were possible, then you can make them less likely to return.»
• «There is no such thing as happened. Everything is always happening. Everything which every human being did since the dawn of time is still reverberating outwards.»

From Weekly Filet #584, in September 2026.