<i>How do I get both files side-by-side in Emacs so I can go through them thoroughly (some of us prefer that to reading diffs, you know)?</i><p><pre><code>  git show branch:path/to/file &#62; /tmp/file
</code></pre>
<i>I want the history of my codebase to be easy to get a feel for</i><p>So never delete branches.  You'll know if they're "done" if they've been merged into your master branch.