The history of philosophy is not like the history of the sciences to be studied with the intellect alone. That which is receptive in us and that which impinges upon us from history is the reality of man's being unfolding itself in thought.
In the information age you don't teach philosophy as they did after feudalism. You perform it. If Aristotle were alive today he'd have a talk show.
To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy in our age can do for those who study it.
You can learn as much about the history from reading about the present as you can vice versa that is learning about the present through history which is what I do for a living.