For a historian, the cause-and-effect relationship is often anything but straightforward. One can easily become lost in the branches of documentation that seem almost designed to divert attention from the main question - worn down by details that, while abundant, are ultimately marginal to the broader structure of thought, and drawn into the weight and density of certain sources.
Returning to the work of Carlo M. Cipolla, in preparation for a conference paper, becomes in this sense a valuable intellectual exercise. The master of causal connections reminds us - teaching those patient enough to learn - that 'even the most beautiful medal has its reverse side', and that history can never be taken for granted, nor reduced to simple explanations.
