The Predictive History Learning Roadmap: A 12-Month Curriculum to Understand Civilization, Power, and the Future

A structured guide to Professor Jiang’s Predictive History lectures and reading list covering mythology, empire cycles, elite power, geopolitics, and the forces shaping modern society.

Predictive History is an approach to studying the past in order to understand the present and anticipate the future. By analyzing historical patterns, philosophical ideas, economic systems, and geopolitical strategies, this framework attempts to identify the underlying forces that shape civilizations.

This guide organizes Professor Jiang’s lectures and recommended readings into a structured 12-month curriculum. The goal is simple: move from foundational ideas about human societies to advanced insights about power structures, elite competition, and global strategy.

The program requires approximately 6–8 hours per week, making it manageable for self-study while still allowing deep engagement with the material.

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Quick Summary Table: 12-Month Predictive History Roadmap

A fast overview of the lectures, books, and concepts for readers who want the big picture.

Note: All book links on this page lead to Amazon.com, the most trusted online stores in the world.

Month	Main Topic	Lectures (Youtube)	Books (Amazon.com)	Main Idea
1	Human Origins	Secret History (1–5)	- Sapiens - The Dawn of Everything	Origins of human societies and early power structures
2	Myth & Early Civilization	Secret History (6–10)	- Epic of Gilgamesh - The Iliad - The Odyssey	Mythology as political memory and cultural identity
3	Greek & Roman World	Secret History (11–15)	- History of the Peloponnesian War - Histories - The Aeneid	Empire formation and classical military strategy
4	Religion & Civilization	Reading Focus	- City of God - Gospel of Thomas - Book of Enoch	Religion shaping legitimacy and political authority
5	Enlightenment Philosophy	Reading Focus	- Meditations on First Philosophy - The Social Contract - Discourse on Inequality	Birth of modern political philosophy
6	Capitalism & Economics	Reading Focus	- The Protestant Ethic Capital in the 21st Century - Debt: The First 5,000 Years	Economic systems and inequality
7	Elite Power	Reading Focus	- The Power Elite - The Anglo-American Establishment - Tower of Basel	Elite networks and financial institutions
8	Civilization Cycles	Reading Focus	- War and Peace and War End Times - The Decline of the West	Rise and fall of empires
9	Science & Knowledge	Reading Focus	- On the Origin of Species - Structure of Scientific Revolutions	Scientific paradigm shifts
10	Geopolitics	Geo Strategy Course	- Foundations of Geopolitics - Seeing Like a State	Global power and state strategy
11	Ideology & Politics	Reading Focus	- Origins of Totalitarianism - The State and Revolution - End of History and the Last Man	Modern political ideologies
12	Strategic Thinking	Reading Focus	- Foundation Series - Peak	Long-term thinking and expertise

YouTube Lecture Courses

The Predictive History channel provides several lecture series that form the backbone of the curriculum.

Course	Videos	Link
Secret History	29	View Playlist
The Story of Civilization	63	View Playlist
Geo Strategy: Predict the Future	12	View Playlist
Geo-Strategy Update	9	View Playlist

Total Lectures: 113 videos

Recommended viewing order:

1. Secret History
2. The Story of Civilization
3. Geo Strategy: Predict the Future
4. Geo-Strategy Updates

Month-by-Month Predictive History Curriculum

Month 1 — Human Origins

The journey begins with the earliest forms of human society.

Lectures (Youtube)

• Secret History (Episodes 1–5)

Books

• Sapiens — Yuval Noah Harari : A broad history of humankind, from early hunter-gatherers to modern systems of power, money, and belief. It helps frame the big-picture story of how human societies evolved.
• The Dawn of Everything — David Graeber : A challenge to the standard story of civilization. The book explores how early humans experimented with many different political and social structures before the modern state.

Key Concepts

• hunter-gatherer societies
• early power structures
• origins of civilization

Month 2 — Myth and Early Civilizations

Lectures (Youtube)

• Secret History (Episodes 6–10)

Books

• Epic of Gilgamesh : One of the oldest surviving works of literature. It explores kingship, mortality, friendship, and the early imagination of civilization.
• The Iliad — Homer : A foundational epic about war, honor, rage, and glory. It shows how ancient societies understood power, heroism, and conflict.
• The Odyssey — Homer : A story of return, endurance, and intelligence after war. It reflects themes of order, identity, and the rebuilding of social life.

Key Concepts

• myth as political memory
• heroic narratives
• foundations of Western storytelling

Month 3 — The Greek and Roman World

Lectures (Youtube)

• Secret History (Episodes 11–15)

Books

• History of the Peloponnesian War — Thucydides : A classic study of war, statecraft, and human ambition. It is essential for understanding realism, power rivalry, and political decline.
• Histories — Herodotus : A sweeping account of peoples, customs, and wars in the ancient world. It mixes history and storytelling to explain how civilizations see themselves and their enemies.
• The Aeneid — Virgil : Rome’s great national epic, linking myth to imperial destiny. It shows how literature can justify state power and civilizational mission.

Key Concepts

• empire formation
• military strategy
• rise of Rome

Month 4 — Religion and Civilization

Books

• City of God — Augustine : A major Christian work on history, morality, and the fate of earthly empires. It contrasts divine order with political power and human ambition.
• Gospel of Thomas : A collection of sayings attributed to Jesus, often read for its mystical and non-canonical perspective. It offers a different window into early religious thought.
• Book of Enoch : An ancient religious text filled with visions, judgment, angels, and cosmic order. It helps illuminate early apocalyptic thinking and spiritual authority.

Key Concepts

• religious authority
• myth and legitimacy
• spiritual narratives shaping society

Month 5 — Enlightenment and Political Philosophy

Books

• Meditations on First Philosophy — Descartes : A foundational philosophical work about doubt, reason, and certainty. It helped shape modern thinking about knowledge and the individual mind.
• The Social Contract — Rousseau : A major text on political legitimacy and collective rule. It asks how people can live under authority while still remaining free.
• Discourse on Inequality — Rousseau : An exploration of how inequality emerged in human societies. It questions whether civilization improved humanity or corrupted it.

Key Concepts

• individual liberty
• social contracts
• foundations of modern governance

Month 6 — Capitalism and Economic Systems

Books

• The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism — Max Weber
  A classic explanation of how religious values helped shape modern capitalism. It connects belief systems to work, discipline, and economic culture.
• Capital in the Twenty-First Century — Thomas Piketty
  A major study of wealth concentration and inequality in modern capitalism. It shows how capital tends to accumulate and reshape society over time.
• Debt: The First 5,000 Years — David Graeber
  A sweeping history of debt, money, and economic obligation across civilizations. It challenges many conventional stories about markets and finance.

Key Concepts

• origins of capitalism
• economic inequality
• historical debt systems

Month 7 — Elite Power Structures

Books

• The Power Elite — C. Wright Mills : A study of how political, military, and corporate elites shape modern society. It is central for understanding concentrated power in advanced states.
• The Anglo-American Establishment — Carroll Quigley : A historical look at elite networks and their long-term influence on British and American institutions. It explores how informal power can guide formal politics.
• Tower of Basel — Adam LeBor : A book about the Bank for International Settlements and the hidden world of global finance. It highlights the quiet influence of central banking power.

Key Concepts

• elite networks
• financial institutions
• central banking influence

Month 8 — Civilizational Cycles and Collapse

Books

• War and Peace and War — Peter Turchin : A theory-driven study of how empires rise, stabilize, and decline. It focuses on social cohesion, conflict, and long historical cycles.
• End Times — Peter Turchin : A modern application of structural-demographic theory to contemporary instability. It explores elite overproduction, polarization, and political breakdown.
• The Decline of the West — Oswald Spengler : A famous and controversial work arguing that civilizations pass through predictable life cycles. It is a key text for thinking about cultural rise and decline.

Key Concepts

• elite overproduction
• internal instability
• empire collapse cycles

Month 9 — Science and Knowledge

Books

• On the Origin of Species — Charles Darwin : The foundational work on evolution by natural selection. It transformed how humans understand life, adaptation, and change over time.
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions — Thomas Kuhn : A landmark book on how scientific thought changes through paradigm shifts rather than steady progress. It is essential for understanding knowledge revolutions.

Key Concepts

• paradigm shifts
• evolution
• transformation of knowledge systems

Month 10 — Geopolitics and Strategy

Lectures (Youtube)

• Geo Strategy Course

Books

• Foundations of Geopolitics — Alexander Dugin : A geopolitical work focused on continental power, strategy, and global influence. It is often discussed in debates about modern Eurasian political thought.
• Seeing Like a State — James Scott : A critique of how states simplify society in order to control it. The book shows how top-down planning often fails when it ignores local complexity.

Key Concepts

• geopolitical influence
• state strategy
• global power structures

Month 11 — Ideology and Totalitarianism

Books

• The Origins of Totalitarianism — Hannah Arendt : A major analysis of totalitarian systems, mass politics, and ideological domination. It helps explain how modern societies can slide into extreme rule.
• The State and Revolution — Vladimir Lenin : A revolutionary text on class power, the state, and socialist transformation. It is important for understanding modern radical political theory.
• The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama : A famous argument that liberal democracy may represent the endpoint of ideological evolution. It is useful for understanding post-Cold War political thought.

Key Concepts

• ideological struggle
• political revolutions
• modern governance models

Month 12 — Strategic Thinking and Future Prediction

Books

• Foundation Series — Isaac Asimov : A science fiction series built around the prediction of civilizational collapse and recovery. It is fictional, but highly relevant to long-range historical thinking.
• Peak — Anders Ericsson : A book about how expertise is built through deliberate practice. It adds a practical layer on mastery, learning, and disciplined development.

Key Concepts

• predicting social systems
• expertise development
• strategic foresight

Weekly Study Routine

To follow the curriculum effectively:

• Watch 2 lecture videos
• Read 50–80 pages
• Write a 1-page summary

Total time required: approximately 6–8 hours per week.

Final Thoughts

Predictive History is not simply about memorizing historical events. It focuses on identifying the forces that shape civilizations: economic systems, elite networks, cultural narratives, and geopolitical strategies.

By studying these patterns, students can develop a deeper understanding of how societies evolve and how historical trends may influence the future.

This roadmap provides a structured path for anyone interested in exploring these ideas through a comprehensive self-study program.