• Historians pursue every place, period, population, and process under the sun, from antiquity to the near present, and on these journeys to the past they explore the connections that make up the complexity of human society from individuals to institutions, from economics to religion to recreation, and from formal politics to family life. 
  • As they learn to recognize the fundamental importance of context, perspective, and contingency to the changes and continuities that occur within and between individual lives, communities, countries, and continents, students of history acquire not just a firm knowledge of the past; they also develop an invaluable way to approach and analyze the world.
  • In short, the study of history not only opens a window into the past; it also provides a framework for understanding the present and charting the future.