They have different answers to the eternal questions, and they invent different political and social forms to order their brief and toilsome time on this earth. But at bottom they are all alike. Thus, Chinese are not angels, but neither are they aliens. Alas, in many states the trend is to cut back, not expand, history requirements. At least, I have not as yet been summoned to the office of the Penn ombudsperson.
Evil is banal and universal.
What is shocking and in need of explanation in history is the good. Thus, I granted that European and American civilization has been imperialistic and exploitative. What is unique about the West is that it invented anti-imperialism. I granted that the West practiced slavery. I granted that the West has waged war on a ferocious scale.