What I've Learned From Tides of History

About this episode

In this episode, Patrick Wyman discusses the importance of studying history and the lessons it offers for the present.

Does history repeat itself? Not really, but that's not the reason it's worth studying: Our past is nothing more or less than the collective record of our species' achievements and failures, and it contains a variety of lessons, few of them easy and straightforward. In this episode, we explore how history helps us in the present, and how it doesn't.   Patrick has a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of a real person who lived in the past. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PWPLA   Patrick's new book - Lost Worlds: The Rise and Fall of Human Societies from the Ice Age to the Bronze Age - is now available for preorder, and will be released on May 5th! Preorder in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWLostWorlds .    And don't forget, you can still Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWverge .    Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Tides of History ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. See Privacy Policy at…

People in this episode

Host: Patrick Wyman

Topics covered

• history
• lessons from history
• human achievements
• societal failures
• present relevance of history

Keywords

• history
• lessons
• society
• achievements
• failures
• Patrick Wyman
• Past Lives
• Lost Worlds

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Audible, Past Lives

Books & works: Lost Worlds: The Rise and Fall of Human Societies from the Ice Age to the Bronze Age, Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World

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• Lewis and Clark, the Corps of Discovery, and Writing Collective History: Interview with Author Craig Fehrman · April 23, 2026 · 44 min
• Lost Worlds Audiobook Chapter: "The World As It Was" · April 16, 2026 · 51 min
• Gladiators and the Roman Psyche: Interview with Dr. Harry Sidebottom · April 2, 2026 · 45 min