De que serve estudar história?

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Não percam este magnífico artigo do Simon Schama no Guardian:

"The seeding of amnesia is the undoing of citizenship. To the vulgar utilitarian demand, "Yes, all very nice, I'm sure, but what use is it?", this much (and more) can be said: inter alia, the scrutiny of evidence and the capacity to decide which version of an event seems most credible; analytical knowledge of the nature of power; an understanding of the way in which some societies acquire wealth while others lose it and others again never attain it; a familiarity with the follies and pity of war; the distinctions between just and unjust conflicts; a clear-eyed vision of the trappings and the aura of charisma, the weird magic that turns sovereignty into majesty; the still more peculiar surrender to authority grounded in revelation, be that a sacred book or a constitution invoked as if it too were supernaturally ordained and hence unavailable to contested interpretation."

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