tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post857670592992779357..comments2024-03-28T05:13:13.921-04:00Comments on Books, Inq. — The Epilogue: Grinding axes ...Frank Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-22450154942475842482008-12-23T10:12:00.000-05:002008-12-23T10:12:00.000-05:00No, I don't think you have an agenda, Jeff. What y...No, I don't think you have an agenda, Jeff. What you say is what I think historians are supposed to do: Tell us as best they can what happened in the past. The past, in fact, is not a gloss on the present, tendentious types like Lewis notwithstanding.Frank Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-39789479832614327402008-12-22T21:31:00.000-05:002008-12-22T21:31:00.000-05:00Goodness knows I engage in a bit of "counterfactua...Goodness knows I engage in a bit of "counterfactual speculation" in my own book, but that review hints, I think, at one of the unfortunate realities of pop-history: that these books are much easier to market when they include a provocative thesis that can be used as a bludgeon by one side or the other in the culture wars. I won't claim to be unbiased, of course, but I will claim not to have an agenda. I just want to tell a good story that reminds readers that iconic historical figures were fallible and imprescient human beings, a realization that hopefully will make those readers think more carefully before they enlist historical figures in modern political debates.<BR/><BR/> Hmm--perhaps I have an agenda after all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com