Friday, May 8, 2009
Yesterday I spoke to a History professor at the University--it went like this:
Me: I was wondering if you know if there is a Lincoln scholar anywhere in the Pine Belt.
Professor: Nooo, I don't think so.
Me: I just finished reading a fascinating book about Lincoln and would like to ask a couple of questions that weren't addressed in the book about his descendants.
Professor: He had descendants??   
Me: Yes sir, and the last two great grandchildren were more than eccentric--they were downright loony.
Professor: Who published this book?
Me: Union Square Press.
Professor: I never heard of them--this sounds like one of those publishers who would print anything without fact checking first.
Me: Well, the first 2/3 of the book relies heavily on  excerpts from correspondence to and from Mary Todd Lincoln and her contemporaries. I don't think an author would make any of it up.
Professor: Hmmmph. (Then after some pleasantries, I said bye.)
I realize that human history comprises thousands of years of activity and maybe this Professor has a favorite historical subject--Maybe Hannibal or Julius Caesar or Robert E. Lee etc. and has delved deeply into the historical events surrounding that character. But I am so unsophisticated that I am continually surprised and astonished by people I think should know something--and they don't.
susil