History for Tomorrow by Roman Krznaric review – looking back, moving forward

History for Tomorrow by Roman Krznaric review – looking back, moving forward

From Arab scholars to hippy mothers, can history offer forgotten answers to modern problems?

We need lessons from history now more than ever. Mothers with young children sit isolated in their own homes, oblivious to 1970s experiments in communal child-rearing. Broadcasters justify populist content on the grounds that it’s what “ordinary people” want, despite the rich 19th-century tradition of working-class intellectualism. The current Labour leadership’s adherence to strict “fiscal rules” disregards past successes of borrowing to invest and taxing the highest incomes at 90%. These histories allow us to see that contemporary evils such as austerity and inequality are contingent, not inevitable: it doesn’t have to be this way.

The mindfulness mantra to ‘live in the present’ distracts us from the real problem: we are not living enough in the past. The perpetual ‘now’ of online life erodes our collective memory. Historical novels and TV series are in demand, but often as vehicles for escapism. History for Tomorrow could not, therefore, be timelier or more welcome. Roman Krznaric’s books include The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long-term in a Short-term World, and this latest is similarly focused on addressing global heating, social division and runaway AI in order to build a better future; this time mining history for precedents and paradigms that might offer forgotten solutions.

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