Wow, I consider myself to be a history buff, but it appears you are an economics history buff.
economics and freedom are closely related. Almost inseperable. If you do not have property rights, including the right to dispose of your property according to your own terms, then you do not have freedom - period. Just as it is important to study the fight for freedom over the centuries, understanding how people have fought against the laws of economics and failed is important, too.
Yet people here want to try the same things over again, preferring to stick their heads in the sand rather than admit the failures of the past.