All historians are answerable for their shortcomings. Even the best resort to synecdoche: they seize on one attribute of an individual’s behavior and enlarge it to explain, in the broadest terms, his or her impulses. In the interest of a flowing narrative, much conscientious history is sacrificed. It happens often. The more intensively one researches, the hardier a book’s organizing themes are, and the easier it is to become attached to the book’s trajectory. For this reason, the reasearch process is both a gold mine and a land mine. Contentment is the researcher’s enemy. All of us know what the stakes are when we attempt to overturn received wisdom. We know that readers will judge how scrupulous we have been.
A promising paragraph, from the preface of Madison and Jefferson. Perhaps this will be the first founding father book I make it through.
Edit: Nope, gave up. I didn’t expect this but I found Jefferson a tiresome and uninspiring character.
