Reading · Summer 2026 Reading from MIT

Culture, humanities & social science

Thinking Historically: A Guide to Statecraft and Strategy

By Francis J. Gavin, research affiliate of the MIT Security Studies Program

Yale University Press · 2025

It seems obvious that we should use history to improve policy. If we have a good understanding of the past, it should enable better decisions in the present, especially in the highly consequential worlds of statecraft and strategy. But how do we gain that knowledge? How should history be used? In this book, Gavin explains the many ways historical knowledge can help us understand and navigate the complex, often confusing world around us.

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From Summer 2026 recommended reading from MIT (MIT News).

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