I picked this book up a few years ago among a few others on the US Army Chief of Staff’s Professional Reading List. It changed my understanding of the world as we live in it now. For the first time, I truly felt as though I understood how the world, especially the West, has been shaped by a few faithful decisions and a hearty dose of luck. The world is not as we know it, in spite of the title, completely by accident, but we will certainly lose our world by a series of accidents if we do not understand our history. As Krista Tippet states in her book, Becoming Wise, “History always repeats itself until we honestly and searchingly know ourselves.” To know ourselves and how to continue the positive progress we all hold dear, we must know our history honestly and intimately.
