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How can the study of history sharpen our political understanding and help us navigate the turbulent complexities of today’s world? History and Politics brings together five distinguished historians to explore how the past, when interpreted through a critical and thoughtful lens, offers essential tools for interpreting political structures, ideologies, and conflicts, both ancient and modern. Featuring David Armitage (Harvard University), Richard Janko (University of Michigan), Martin Jay (UC Berkeley), Josiah Ober (Stanford University), and author and public intellectual Pankaj Mishra, the film underscores how historical literacy is not just a scholarly exercise, but a vital civic skill. David Armitage, a leading voice in global intellectual history, reflects on how seemingly disconnected experiences - reading the marginal notes of a 19th-century lawyer and following real-time news from the Iraq War - sparked his long-term investigation into the concept of civil war. In segments like Past and Present and Spurious Clarity, he demonstrates how historical thinking complicates our assumptions and demands a deeper, more nuanced engagement with terms and ideas that dominate today’s political discourse. In Listening to Other Voices, he emphasizes the need to engage with multiple perspectives to challenge dominant narratives and foster more inclusive interpretations of conflict. Josiah Ober, a scholar of ancient Greek political thought, brings classical history into contemporary relevance by showing how rhetoric, democracy, and class structures in ancient Athens can inform our understanding of political participation and elitism today. Drawing from his own early experiences of social stratification, he explains how historical inquiry evolves alongside our lived experiences, and how classical ideals continue to echo in modern governance debates. Martin Jay, an expert on the history of ideas, explores how political ideologies are shaped—and often distorted—by the language we use to express them. He underscores the historian's responsibility to unpack these ideological frameworks and reveal the contingencies beneath what may appear as universal truths. By tracing the evolution of political concepts over time, Jay highlights how critical thinking about history can challenge polarization and foster deeper understanding. Richard Janko, a classical philologist and historian, delves into the transmission of political and philosophical ideas through ancient texts, demonstrating how foundational narratives about governance, justice, and human behavior continue to influence political thinking today. His work bridges the ancient and the contemporary, revealing the long arc of political thought and its enduring relevance. Pankaj Mishra, acclaimed author and cultural commentator, offers a sharp critique of modern political discourse, urging us to recognize how historical amnesia and intellectual provincialism distort our understanding of global events. He calls for a broader, more inclusive engagement with global histories—particularly those of non-Western societies - that challenges dominant frameworks and brings suppressed voices to the fore. History and Politics reveals how a critical and layered understanding of history can provide more than just context—it can reframe how we think about power, justice, and collective memory. In an age of increasing ideological division and historical simplification, this documentary reminds us that history is not a static record of the past, but an ever-evolving dialogue that holds the potential to enrich and inform our political lives.