'"Reading history is pointless because it's written by the winners."'

That is not always true. We know for example that the history of the Little Bighorn where Custer got his troops with the Seventh Cavalry killed was written by the losers, despite the losers all being dead at the end of what the Sioux call the Battle of the Greasy Grass or the Battle of Greasy Grass Creek. Not a major point to discuss, but indicative that generalizations are simply generalizations.