HISTORY shapes the cultural baggage we inherit, and Canadian hockey players carry theirs to the ice rink. They are not alone. A growing body of evidence points to the persistent role of history in shaping culture and contemporary behavior. In Nazi Germany, anti-Semitism thrived in localities that 600 years earlier had suffered pogroms during the Black Death. Africans whose ancestors were raided during the slave trade today often show less trust toward strangers. In the United States, the herders who settled the lawless areas of the West developed a code of honor that persists and helps explain present-day violence.
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