[gooseus]

I think mistaking History for a "knowing what" subject rather than a "knowing how" subject is a terrible misconception.

Understanding how societies and civilizations reacted to different pressures and how the structure and nature of their institutions evolved and handled those pressures is much more important than remembering what happened where.

Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them, as they say.

[DennisP]

I think what the article means by "how" is knowing how to personally do something; the "how" for history is knowing how to do historical research.