lack of education.

I'm trying to read Peter Hessler's Oracle Bones, which was a National Book Award Finalist last year, but I'm having some serious problems. I have to keep pulling out my laptop every five minutes to look up some aspect of Chinese, Asian, or Communist history. How did I graduate college? I barely recognize Mao Zedong as an important name. I just realized today that the protests in Tiananmen Square happened while I was alive. That's ridiculous! How did I not know that?