On the Importance of Henry's Briefings

[Steelhead]

I rarely disagree with the sage Professor Krafft. But on the utility of
Henry M.'s daily postings I fear I must. They arrive each morning with the
unquestionable authority of a briefing by the State Department.

Admittedly, Henry's no Michelet or Macauley, but then goddamnit who is, eh?

These daily collages strive for a kind of popular history that Howard Zinn
pulled off in The Southern Mystique and Christopher Hill almost achieves
but misses in his otherwise masterful The World Turned Upside Down.

Edward Gibbon, mad and nearly blind, handed a freshly printed copy of the
third volume of the Decline and Fall to his patron, the Prince of Wales.
The prince thumbed casually through the book and said:  "Another book, Mr.
Gibbon? Scribble, scribble, scribble, eh, Mr. Gibbon?"

My sentiments are with Henry and the prince on this one. Three volumes for
a history, when a page or two would do?

One can pour ceaselessly over the meticulous details of a Dumas Malone on
Jefferson or the encyclopaedic shenanigans of a Robert Caro on LBJ and
never experience that "ah-hah" recognition of the bizarre twists, curves,
and, yes, Herr Doktor Hegel, dare I say, repititions of history that you
can get in each dose of "On This Day." Ah, the synchronicities, John!

I don't know about you, but I prefer my history highly condensed, sheared
of all irritating irrelevancies.

Steely