Lessons from History

According to Wikipedia, from 1935 to 1975, Will Durant and Ariel Durant published the masterpiece, The Story of Civilization. Paraphrasing the site, the 11-volume series was an effort to unify and humanize the great body of historical knowledge. Lessons From History, Part 1 seeks to reinvigorate rational conversations and the exchange of ideas, sharing reflections from the 11 volumes of The Story of Civilization.

The book can be considered a unique life coach book and helps readers understand how we can learn from history by taking selected quotes from Durant’s 11 volumes and providing a reflection on each one for further thought and discussion. Initially, the author wrote it for his students and hopes it will one day be seen as one of the best books for history enthusiasts to spark the imagination and kindle questions such as, “why don’t we learn from history?”

In some sense, the book is chasing history and helping us see what we can learn from history through the author's reflections on Will Durant’s masterpiece. The excerpts are short, and the author’s deep thoughts entice readers to ponder, “what is history?”

The desire is to simplify and encourage history reading while allowing the reader to see how we can learn from history and apply it to improve our future.

Wadih Barakat took his time to read, quote and reflect on the 11 volumes of The Story of Civilizations to help enlighten the community he lives in because a real teacher is a real father and a natural educator. It is an excellent series of short reflections on what might be considered one of the greatest history books of all time.