From ‘Mockingjay Part 2’, Plutarch Heavensbee’s letter to Katniss says, ‘The war is over. We’ll enter that sweet period where everyone agrees not to repeat the recent horrors. Of course, we’re fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a gift for self-destruction.’
How should we prevent ugly history from repeating itself? If I am an history expert, I would compile a concise record of lessons learnt from history, in terms of politics, labelling each lesson with a reference number and detailed topical index for reference – e.g. with themes like ‘election’, ‘war’, ‘racism’… Having this ‘History Bible’ seems the most urgent and efficient way to learn history – by focusing on the moral lessons instead of the cumbersome background details, which is what bores most.