I have not posted much on Grant of late for one reason, and one only: I am rather old school in how I go about research. How’s that? I actually take notes on note cards.
Let me give example: I read Chernow all the way through some time ago. I took no notes, but made comments in the margins and underlined things. After I read Chernow, I read other books on Grant, one after another. This gives me a generally decent sense of the quality of the books, and what I can use from them in my own work.
By the time I circle back to a book I have read, like Chernow, only then do I delve into its minutia. It is time consuming. It prevents me from actually getting anything down on paper, but I end up with a stack go cards. I also end up with a book where more of my own markings are in it.
One thing that takes time is I actually go through the notes/footnotes. In this regard, since I just completed a deep dive into Chernow, I can say it can be a real challenge. Why? Because people like Chernow (and Calhoun) suck at notes. I cannot tell you how many times I have found one of their cites leads to a non existent source on a particular date. When that happens, I try to chase the content to see if they messed up on the date (in newspaper cites) or pages ( in book cites), etc. That TAKES TIME. It is highly aggravating, and let me say, it makes me question the author’s abilities to get things right.
Now, that said, I realize cites are not everything, especially to people like me—I want a nice and easily digestible narrative. Also people make honest mistakes. The cites are secondary. But for modern academics like Chernow, you’d expect him to get at least that right—I mean he makes wild claims in the book, and then cites it. Often it leads to the correct source; but just as often it leads..nowhere. It moments like that, a reliable cite is nice. It lets the reader find it and go make up his own mind whether the book author is telling the truth, or fabricating it, or, has an agenda.
So, that is the reason posts have not been forthcoming. I blew through the rest of Chernow to 1876, and took notes, longhand, on note cards. And I found a lot of errors. It took me time to track down those errors.
So, apologies for that. Because of this, if inclined, I am taking the subscription rate down on special for a time. Special trial also for anyone who wants to gander at this eclectic space.
Have questions, comments, leave some. And Cheers!