Senegal and The Gambia

In The Silk Roads, historian Peter Frankopan identifies Central and Western Asia as the crossroads of human civilization, the birthplace of the world’s major religions, the battleground where the great empires of history rose and fell, and the garden from which today’s global economy first sprouted. He argues that understanding the East is crucial to our understanding of the world—particularly for Westerners who have lost this global perspective.

In ancient times, trade routes known as the Silk Roads first brought European merchants to the luxury markets of the East, enabling the flow of both material goods and ideas from East to West. According to Frankopan, the Silk Roads have always been history’s crucial connection point, spreading not just luxury goods like silk and spices, but also technology, religion, languages, cultures, ideologies, and even conflicts and diseases. In this guide, we explore Frankopan’s history of the Silk Roads, while also incorporating insights and feedback from other scholars to supplement his analysis.

We need to talk about racism. But, for white people and people of color alike, talking about it can feel like navigating through a minefield. In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo offers a handbook on how to have intelligent, productive, empathetic conversations about race.

Our guide discusses and extends Oluo’s ideas for how to tackle these conversations, comparing and contrasting her ideas on race with those of her contemporaries. We also examine the research underlying Oluo’s arguments. You’ll learn about the school-to-prison pipeline, why touching someone’s hair can be a racist act, and what you can do to fight racial injustice through both conversations and practical actions.

Think back to your US history classes—how much time did you spend studying Native American perspectives? According to some experts, it probably wasn’t much. History professor and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz fills that knowledge gap with An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. Published in 2014, this book is a retelling of US history that makes two major arguments: First, the US’s global success can be traced directly to its genocide of Native Americans. Second, indigenous resistance holds the key to a more peaceful future.

In this guide, we’ll discuss life in precolonial America and explain what led Europe to colonize the Americas. Then, we’ll explain how patterns of genocide and resistance have played out over the course of US history. Our commentary will provide additional information and alternative ideas about the historical events Dunbar-Ortiz covers. We’ll also explore social issues related to colonization, explain how Native American resistance efforts intersect with other movements, and provide an update on US-indigenous relations in the 21st century.

In The Silk Roads, historian Peter Frankopan identifies Central and Western Asia as the crossroads of human civilization, the birthplace of the world’s major religions, the battleground where the great empires of history rose and fell, and the garden from which today’s global economy first sprouted. He argues that understanding the East is crucial to our understanding of the world—particularly for Westerners who have lost this global perspective.

In ancient times, trade routes known as the Silk Roads first brought European merchants to the luxury markets of the East, enabling the flow of both material goods and ideas from East to West. According to Frankopan, the Silk Roads have always been history’s crucial connection point, spreading not just luxury goods like silk and spices, but also technology, religion, languages, cultures, ideologies, and even conflicts and diseases. In this guide, we explore Frankopan’s history of the Silk Roads, while also incorporating insights and feedback from other scholars to supplement his analysis.

In Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari uses concepts from biology, history, and economics to tell the story of us, Homo sapiens. We start 2.5 million years ago, when Sapiens make their historical entrance, and end in the future, when the creation of an artificially created superhuman race may mark the end of the Sapiens species. Along the way, we learn how our ability to create imagined realities led to our dominance over other species. We watch as the Agricultural Revolution, the Scientific Revolution, imperialism, capitalism, and the Industrial Revolution change our species in lasting, and not always positive, ways.

Ultimately, we’re left with one question: As we design our future, who do we want to become? Asking the right questions may be more important than finding the right answers. Read this summary to explore our history as a species—in doing so, you’ll see today’s world in an entirely new way.

Conventional accounts of American history tend to focus on the people at the top—presidents, generals, CEOs, and other influential figures and their struggles, ambitions, hopes, and dreams. But what about average people? The ones who had to live with the consequences of elite decisions, and who often struggled in obscurity? In A People’s History of the United States, historian Howard Zinn aims to tell their story, providing a bottom-up view of American history focusing on Indigenous people, Black Americans, women, laborers, and activists.

Our guide outlines Zinn’s interpretation of significant events, themes, and historical trends in American history. Through our commentary, we’ll provide alternative opinions on the motivations behind and consequences of historical events. We’ll also further explain Zinn’s approach to history and provide additional context for his arguments as well as his perspective on events that happened after the book’s publication.

In Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson explores the phenomenon of nationalism. His core insight is that the concept of “the nation” has no basis in empirical reality, but is instead a purely political innovation that constructs a shared identity binding strangers from different communities together—usually on the basis of a shared language, history, culture, religion, or ethnicity. Thus, although a nation may consist of tens of millions of people—nearly all of whom will never personally know or even meet one another—nationalism allows each individual to think of themselves as a member of a singular community with a shared identity.

In this guide, we’ve added alternative viewpoints on the basis of nationalism, including psychological and anthropological perspectives. We've also added more historical context for Anderson's theories.

What can you learn from 5,000 years of history? Are we in truly novel times, or do we face the same problems that the Romans and Egyptians faced 2,000 years ago?

Will & Ariel Durant, Pulitzer Prize winning historians, are famed for writing The Story of Civilization, a massive 9766-page, 11-volume treatise of the entirety of Western history. They compiled the most important recurring patterns in this book. Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater, considers this one of his 3 must-read books.

Learn how human nature hasn’t changed over thousands of years, how societies cycle between inequality and redistribution like a heartbeat, and why eventually all civilizations fall.

How did a trading company, ostensibly formed for commerce, come to rule most of the Indian subcontinent and its millions of people for over 50 years? In The Anarchy, historian William Dalrymple charts the rise of the English East India Company during the 17th and 18th centuries, from a small outfit of merchants into the imperialist superpower that established British colonial rule in India.

Dalrymple is an award-winning Delhi-based historian who has written extensively on European colonialism in the Eastern hemisphere. Our guide explores how the English East India Company rose to power by exploiting a period of chaos and instability in India—when the once-powerful Mughal Empire had collapsed into smaller kingdoms that vied to fill the power vacuum. In the midst of this anarchy, the English East India Company forged alliances, backed coups, installed puppet rulers, and built the largest army on Earth. Our commentary delves into background historical context, the fallout from these events, views from other historians, and political theory that sheds light on the company's machinations.

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein is a study of the history of economic shock therapy, which aims to quickly improve a country’s economy through rapid privatization, deregulation, and severe cuts in government spending. She also describes how it gave rise to the disaster capitalism complex: a privatized system of destruction and rebuilding that funnels billions of dollars into corporate pockets. The book discusses the incredible harm that economic shock therapy and disaster capitalism have caused to millions of people all over the world.

Klein is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and activist. She’s dedicated her life to studying the personal and environmental harms that result from wars and unchecked capitalism.

Long Walk to Freedom chronicles Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary life story, as told by the man himself. Mandela is known as one of history’s great peacemakers, but his own life wasn’t a peaceful one. He fought against South Africa’s racist government policies and its system of apartheid from the 1940s to the 1960s. He then spent 27 years in prison, where he became a worldwide symbol of the South African struggle for freedom.

This guide explores Mandela’s experiences during four time periods: his childhood, his time as a young political activist, the years he spent in prison, and the time after his release. Our commentary provides background information about South Africa, including its political parties and important historical figures, as well as explores broader global trends of racism and oppression. We’ll also briefly examine Nelson Mandela’s legacy and what South Africa is like in its post-apartheid years.

The Federalist Papers are a unique window into the minds of the men who drafted the Constitution and founded the United States. This series of 85 essays, originally published at the time of the raging debate over ratification, make the case for a stronger national government and urge the adoption of the Constitution. This is one of the most important documents in American history, revealing what the Founding Fathers thought about human nature, civil society, and the relationship between government and liberty.

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein is a study of the history of economic shock therapy, which aims to quickly improve a country’s economy through rapid privatization, deregulation, and severe cuts in government spending. She also describes how it gave rise to the disaster capitalism complex: a privatized system of destruction and rebuilding that funnels billions of dollars into corporate pockets. The book discusses the incredible harm that economic shock therapy and disaster capitalism have caused to millions of people all over the world.

Klein is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and activist. She’s dedicated her life to studying the personal and environmental harms that result from wars and unchecked capitalism.

Why do some nations develop thriving economies and stable governments while others continually struggle with poverty and instability? According to Tim Marshall in Prisoners of Geography, the answer lies in geography. Marshall argues that a nation’s geography can determine its fate—nations with bountiful natural resources and protective physical features tend to thrive and prosper while other nations struggle by comparison.

In our guide, you’ll learn how rivers, mountains, and people interact to shape a nation’s fortunes. You’ll also learn how geography shapes the way that nations interact with each other. On the international stage, Marshall argues, nations use trade, diplomacy, and military force as they vie for access to geographical bounties—troves of resources, trade routes, and defensive features. As we cover Marshall’s ideas, we’ll consider a variety of perspectives on the role of geography in politics. We’ll also contrast these views with those of historians who argue that other forces, such as economics and culture, have been more influential in shaping history.

What can you learn from 5,000 years of history? Are we in truly novel times, or do we face the same problems that the Romans and Egyptians faced 2,000 years ago?

Will & Ariel Durant, Pulitzer Prize winning historians, are famed for writing The Story of Civilization, a massive 9766-page, 11-volume treatise of the entirety of Western history. They compiled the most important recurring patterns in this book. Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater, considers this one of his 3 must-read books.

Learn how human nature hasn’t changed over thousands of years, how societies cycle between inequality and redistribution like a heartbeat, and why eventually all civilizations fall.