Historians pursue “big” questions. What makes a civilization? What forces drive them to rise, expand, conquer, but then contrive to drag them into decline? What motivates us, directs our actions, creates the belonging we feel to the communities we construct around ourselves? The field was not always oriented toward finding these deeper truths. Herodotus (484-425 BCE) sought to chronicle the societies of the Mediterranean, North Africa and Western Asia in The Histories, and is rightfully considered the “Father of History,” but presenting an accurate retelling of the past is only part of the venture of history as it is practiced now.