#41 / Are We Getting Closer To The End Of History?

 

The proposition that we have, somehow, arrived at the "End of History," is a subject upon which I have commented before. The idea, which is generally attributed to Francis Fukuyama, is the claim that we have, essentially, reached the end of any real controversy or conflict over the economic, and political, and social systems that will rule the world. No one who says that his favorite category is "possibility" can ever go along with that "End of History" idea. I pretty much reject the concept.

Daniel Bessner, however, who is an associate professor at the University of Washington, has a new twist on that "End of History" phrase. Bessner suggests that we are reaching the "End of History" as an academic pursuit. The books are getting thinner. Those calling themselves "historians" are disappearing. When there aren't any new history books, or historians, remaining, the "End of History" will have arrived. You can click this link to get Bessner's take on history's looming demise. 

I am still reading a lot of Jill Lepore - like her most recent New Yorker article on "What The January 6th Report Is Missing." I am still hearing from Heather Cox Richardson, each day, whom I would call "America's Favorite Historian." 

I don't think we are ever going to get to the "End of History," because we can, each one of us, transform the world by what we choose to do. 

 

History, in other words, begins with each one of us. 

 

Let's not forget it!

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Image Credit:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/14/opinion/american-history-college-university-academia.html