Does Going There Matter?

Multi-prize-winning author T.J. Stiles (Custer’s Trials, The First Tycoon) recently posed this question on social media.  “Do historians have to visit the sites in their books?” he asked.  “I say no, no more than you have to have been alive in the times you write about.”  Stiles contended that what is important is “personal experience,”…

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The Amendment Fetish: The Problem of the States

The swelling Tea Party movement embodies a fascinating contradiction.  Its leaders profess a near-religious awe for the U.S. Constitution.  This has led to stunts like the reading of the Constitution on the floor of the House of Representatives.  Should it also lead to greater sales for The Summer of 1787, I will be hard-pressed to complain. …

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