I love history but hate nostalgia.  Small distinction, big difference.

History is the process of gaining understanding about the world – learning about the past to better appreciate where we’ve come from and where we are so that we can ultimately learn lessons to apply to the present and future.

Nostalgia is the futile pursuit of a past that no longer exists and in some cases never did. It tends to glorify bygone eras in a way that makes it harder to objectively reflect on their reality. It fetishizes the past and casts residents of the present as passive victims of a random and uncontrollable future.

History, ironically enough, looks to the future. It instills in its student an appreciation of time’s well-earned lessons, that one might be not a poor soul subject to inevitable fate, but an active participant in crafting one’s destiny.