History & CultureMental model
The trap of reading history as a road leading to us.
In 1931, the historian Herbert Butterfield criticised 'Whig history': narratives in which everything earlier is merely a stepping stone to the present, and people are sorted into 'progressives' and 'obstacles'. The problem: those involved didn't know the ending, and many paths open at the time vanish from such a story. The present becomes the yardstick instead of an accident.
Useful: When a narrative runs smoothly towards the present, look for the forks it leaves out.
Source: en.wikipedia.org