This book by one of the best popular historians of all time will introduce you to certain ideals of intellectual freedom for which some of our ancestors fought at the risk of their lives. She warns against the arrogance and self-confidence that have caused so much terrible suffering over the last two thousand years. It would be a mistake to believe that savagery and barbarism are a thing of the past. Considering this science as a kind of fairy tale, you will be shocked to discover that it is indeed a science that is subject to the same iron rules that govern the rest of the universe. Only by accepting the inevitability of historical laws can you derive practical value from this science. Having realized the laws of influence of the past on the present, you will be able to create for yourself and your descendants the kind of future that progressive people have dreamed of in all centuries. And history will cease to be the companion and accomplice of those who profit from ignorance, prejudice and intransigence.