develop within a tightly interwoven world,” as Andrews and Burke observe.6 That makes attention to context imperative. In like manner, our determination to explain the patterns that we observe leads us inevitably to the contemplation of cause and effect. This is why E. H. Carr could conclude that “the study of history is a study of causes.”7 But note that historians cannot nail down cause and effect in the same way that scientists do. Scientists can devise a theory about how two compounds interact