Introduction. Teaching history and learning to think critically.

The monographic Dossier of Studi sulla Formazione is devoted to: War and peace. Teaching history in the light of twentieth century tragedies. It brings together some speeches that were presented at the 2nd IRAHSSE Conference, International Research Association for History and Social Sciences Education, which took place in Switzerland in 2014 (University of Freiburg, 1-14 September 2014). This was an extremely interesting meeting between scholars of different nationalities which produced many original studies. The association is indeed strongly committed to supporting the debate around the social sciences and never forgets the teaching and educational dimension. This leads to continuous reflection on many aspects of research; in particular, on the relationship between the past and the present and the public use of history and also on the importance of making a history of our time.