a “usable past,” a phrase which seems to make history merely a means understanding the present.

.....

Historians look for patterns in order to identify themes which help explain the past and cause the present.

I enjoyed this essay, not only because it uses the word "historicity," which I have not much seen since my days as a history major in college. But I am wondering about your apparent disapproval of "usable past" in light of your later statement about the uses of history. Do you think we would study history if it didn't repeat itself (or, as the man said, at least rhyme)?

I view history as a study of why things happened, necessary to which - but not the end of which - is knowing what things happened. But the what is in service to the why, because the why is more likely to be something we can use.

Criminal investigators speak of motive, means, and opportunity. But criminal investigators are historians; they do try to figure out what happened, but they are most persuasive in court if they can say why they happened. History may indeed be understood as the study of motives, means, and opportunities. Those vessels have always existed, and, I suppose, always will.