![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The story becomes mythical and destined for retelling for new audiences, new challenges, and new generations. Young man grows up in poverty on the frontier, splits rails, self-educates, and becomes a lawyer and the statesman who saved the union before a dastardly actor assassinated him during the play Our American Friend. In many ways Meacham tells an oft-told story. Who was where when? Who wrote what letter to whom, residing in an obscure library? The insights made the story more complex and compelling than the old-method historical narratives.Īnd There Was Light, by Jon Meacham, is the latest in this string of “new” histories in my library. Kerns Goodwin made connections regarding the politicking around the formation of Lincoln’s cabinet, connections impossible for a mere card deck. ![]() The reality of the impact of this information revolution on historical scholarship became real to me when Doris Kerns Goodwin released her Team of Rivals. Card catalogs left libraries, and research decks left researchers – all to be replaced by the internet and digitized data. In the intervening years, much has changed. Tales of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman times thrilled me and led me to learn to read and use indexes (my parents had a World Book Encyclopedia whose index pointed me to every entry, and that opened Roman and Greek history to me). I stumbled across ancient history in the sixth grade. In the material world, nothing is done by leaps, all by gradual advance. ![]()
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