This book, the result of collective effort, we consider it to be a multiple challenge.
First and foremost for the reader. If he believes that the historical past is identical to what we call "history", that the interpretation of the past is one and only, given, unchanging and undisturbed, that the task of the historian is, as Leopold von Ranke declared about a hundred and seventy years ago, to record the events exactly as they happened, then he has two choices: either to leave the book out of his hands or to attempt to study it armed with strength and patience. If, on the other hand, the reader belongs to the category of those who believe that the historical past is definitively lost and for this reason, when we talk about history, we essentially refer to the thoughts of people about the past, then he will be disappointed. History may be to some extent a mental construction in relation to the past, but it is subject to a kind of strict intellectual discipline that does not allow for absolute relativism and does not equate all perspectives and interpretations.

However, the book is also a challenge for the authors, for two main reasons: first, because we wanted to confront difficult and controversial issues in terms of scientific, political and social aspects; and second, because our era, despite the apparent prevalence of liberal ideas, tends, driven by the insecurities of globalization and the upheaval of the certainties of the past, towards conservative and even authoritarian solutions. It is there that the fears of honest people for real dangers should probably be attributed, the invention of dangers by other malicious people, and the launch, with many opportunities, of a new "witch hunt" by the enraged, which increases "the torment of History".

However, we decided to deal with a subject matter that we have every reason to believe corresponds to real and pressing needs of our time, needs related to the cosmogony that has been happening in recent years both at the level of science in general and the science of history in particular, as well as in the fields of cognitive psychology, school pedagogy, teaching methodology and the organization of the school and extracurricular learning environment.

Indeed, recent discussions have significantly overturned or modified traditional perceptions of the nature of history, to some extent even in our country, while significant developments in the fields of cognitive psychology and neurobiology have dramatically changed the image of the modern school, unfortunately not yet in our country.