Alan Singer: *Understanding History in the "Age of the Big Lie."*

Singer refers to E.H. Carr, who claimed that "Concern with the future is what really motivates the study of the past. I disagree, because I agree with Singer's concluding paragraph: there are many possible motivations and purposes in studying history.

In particular, it can be interesting to study history seeking the causes and explanations of the present, but we need to avoid transferring our present-day thinking and moral ideas anachronistically to people of the past.