Never Forget the Ghosts of History

'Never forget the ghosts of history' are the opening words to an 18th century vellum manuscript discovered by an amateur genealogist searching through family papers. The dark, fragmented visions, dire prophetic warnings make sense to its discoverer, who sees the long ancestral link between the past and the present. He recognizes his own vision as part of an ancient tradition, his own gift to decipher the patterns of history.
This find reinforces his own conclusions: if humanity continues to pursue power eventually the human race will get the war it is trying to avoid, deluding itself that power is not the motive of all actions. Every civilization that has gained great status has always had to - in time - fight to retain that status and regain it when it has been lost. His sees those 250 year old writings very much relevant in today's world, a planet beset by strife, heading for world war.
Two and a half centuries after those words were penned Russia and China are challenging American dominance - the patterns of history are revealing themselves again. But it seems no one can see.