Rarely we come across forwarded links as insightful as this. please read and enjoy.
"Historians are like reliable local guides. Ideally, they will know the terrain like the backs of their hands. They recognise all the inhabitants and have a sharp eye for strangers and impostors. They may not have much sense of world geography and probably can't even draw a map. But if you want to know how to get somewhere, they are the ones to take you."
Diary, by Keith Thomas, London Review of Books, Vol. 32 No. 11 · 10 June 2010, pages 36-37
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n11/keith-thomas/diary
sadan.
