At times like these, when the prospect of a hopeful turn of events in local and world affairs seems dim, when fascism seems to lurk behind every corner, and bigotry and racism to fulminate from the mouths of so many, reading history provides a bit of well needed perspective. I recently found a nice piece of perspective in Richard Slotkin’s magisterial The Fatal Environment, which made 1876 seem far worse than today. According to Slotkin, one decade after the Civil War, America found its redeemer in the figure of Col. George Custer. In a time of economic depression, in which Read more