While it is vital to understand where we come from, we can never lose sight of TODAY and what is needed NOW.
In MA we never have an accurate history of our MA, we have bits and pieces and folklore and so much more "baggage".
It is crucial to understand that MA are learned by DOING, not reading.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't know our history, it simply means that history of the art takes a step back to that actual DOING of the art.
No one will ever become proficient in any system without doing the one thing that ALL founders of MA systems have ALWAYS done and that is:
FIGHT WITH IT.