Understanding And Contextualizing Current Events – There has to be a book about this right??

So I've gone over what the good places for news are. I feel like I can get some decent information about the current events in the world.

However most of the time I find myself unable to contextualize the news in a meaningful way. I simply can't always interpret what I'm reading into useful information. How do I do that? Is there a core set of books for understanding human history or a read about general principles of critical thinking when engaging with the news?

I just want to start understanding the state of the world and be informed… but I'm feeling a little lost in my journey to get there.