Don't read the news. It has nothing to do with what's going on. Actual history, big trends and really significant changes, usually show up in journal articles.

Don't read the news. It has nothing to do with what's going on. Actual history, big trends and really significant changes, usually show up in journal articles. The news is just a cycle of stories about people that people think are important. If you read the news from 1914, it tells you almost nothing about 1914, aside from what seemed interesting at the time, with a side-dish of nonsense. If you hear about something contemporary that interests you (terrorism, brexit, war in yemen, etc) take the time to research it properly. Even wikipedia is much more information-dense than any but the best newspaper articles.