Memorial Day

Tom has a perfect example of the review essayist's art here. Reviewing books is important. I would argue that it is a sadly underappreciated aspect of the profession. Putting together an essay in which you place any given book within larger trends, indeed, using the book as a springboard to that discussion, is an essential part of the historian's craft. The one book matters less than the role it plays within what other books have to say. Tom's essay reveals as much, and should have been on the front cover of the latest issue of Claremont.