- Wasserstrom's book is directed at a general audience, and he is clearly inspired by Mark Twain's travel narratives (he titles his book "Tales for Global Times"). What do you think of this narrative style an the abundant use of the first person?
- Wasserstrom's ruminations involve asking a lot of questions. He demonstrates how an educated person who is skilled at asking questions can turn his world into a text to explore an question. What kind of questions can you critically ask about your world? Has he inspired you to wonder about your environment?
- Snyder writes in order to warn. Explain his warning in your own words (inspiration might come on page 13)
- What does it mean to be antihistorical or have no history? Why was the end of the Cold War a turninng point in our perception of history (and the beginning of the "politics of inevitability")?
- Snyder claims that one's sense of history, right or wrong, affects one's political activity. What is his antidote to antihistorical thikning?