One way I’ve found to avoid ‘lessons’ is to read history that isn’t concerned with the recent past. To go back in time a bit. Primary source material is more readily available, which puts me closer to the people involved.
For example. I’m in the middle of Tom Crouch’s ‘The Bishop’s Boys,’ a biography of Orville and Wilbur Wright. In it, there is discussion of a letter from Wilbur Wright to his sister in law Lulu concerning her son Herbert. It’s both a caution to Lulu that setting quiet Herbert on a business course without a fair amount of guidance could be a disaster, and a reflection from Wilbur on the Wright boys’ struggles to succeed.
The discussion in the book was good enough to get me to dig for the letter, but the letter itself is the thing. From June 18th, 1901, it’s written at a moment when the Wright Cycle Company is foundering, and Orville and Wilbur are building gliders to keep their curiosity engaged. It is not a ‘great’ moment in the usual sense; there are several lines like this:
The boys of the Wright family are all lacking in determination and push. None of us has as yet made particular use of the talent in which he excels other men.
Trite are the lessons I might draw from the letter, along the lines of, ‘Even the great ones struggle.’ But as a snapshot of a moment, it’s rich.
The letter is on pages 8-13 of the file linked below.