Fawn Brodie continues to be relevant to Mormonism and our to culture more broadly today, more so than most people realize. It's not that her takes on various historical subjects necessarily stand up to the strictest of scrutiny, but it's rather that she asked important questions and sought to illuminate her subjects in ways that most historians were content to ignore. She puzzled over the internal life, piercing through the sheen of historical mythologizing and diligently seeking for reasonable answers. Her honesty and clarity of thought was a trait she shared with her husband, and together they both disrupted the inertia and wrong-headed thinking of their contemporaries and forced their audiences to confront their blind spots and reckon more completely with the historical record.
Bringhurst adequately gathered and organized the record left behind by Fawn Brodie and conducted many interviews to complete the picture so the reader of this book can clearly understand and follow her life trajectory. He tells her story with empathy, allowing the reader to connect and sympathize with her triumphs and tragedies, including the dynamics of coming of age and being torn between loyalty to parents and community while forging an identity distinctly at odds with them. His analyses of her scholarly contributions are also fairly balanced, which is especially significant given her tendency to be a lightning rod for controversy.
A lot of writings by and about Fawn Brodie (and her husband!) are readily available for folks connected to academia, and many are even freely available online (the university of utah makes many historical resources available for free, for instance). I highly recommend reading what you can find alongside this biography. It makes her rather fascinating life story even more colorful and interesting. I think a companion "selected writings" volume would be a worthy addition to this book.
Now for the unfortunate part. Fawn Brodie was a meticulous scholar, and her biography deserves meticulous attention. Unfortunately, Bringhurst is not a meticulous biographer. His quotes usually pluck from the front matter of his source, and sometimes the back matter as well, but his narrative often fails to demonstrate an actual digestion of the meat of the source itself, so his summaries are always a bit suspect. I find I can never fully trust the narrative.
Bringhurst also has a tendency to quote his sources without using quotation marks, and to reword his sources when he does quote them. These problems generally don't interfere with the meaning conveyed by the sources, but misquotes and patchwriting make for bad writing. The plus side here is that frequently when a paragraph is mostly patchwritten, it doesn't stray too far from the meaning of the source. When Bringhurst summarizes in his own words without patchwriting, then he more often gets things wrong.
This edition is substantially the same as the first edition, except for a new prologue and appendix material, and the occasional footnote difference (looking at you, page 250, footnote 15). The new forward is a hefty 28 pages of material evaluating the continuing impact of Fawn Brodie's intellectual work, but which also unfortunately follows the same sloppy editorial standards of the rest of the book (sometimes borrowing quite liberally from it as well!).
To prepare for this review I gathered and read through several dozens of the sources Bringhurst cites, checking for accuracy.
I asked for a digital copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes, but did not receive any cash or discounts or other incentives to influence my opinions stated here.
Additional notes:
errata and corrigenda (not exhaustive!):
5th page (dedication), "excentric" = eccentric
page xx, footnote 30, "Twenty-First Mormon Literature" should read "Twenty-First Century Mormon Literature"
page xx, text three times and once each in footnotes 31-33, "Bradley Evans" should read "Bradley-Evans"
page xxi, text twice and once each in footnotes 34-35, "Bradley Evans" should read "Bradley-Evans"
page xxiii, "that that" should read "that"
page xxiv, "dirty graffiti" -- this is NOT a direct quote -- see notes for page 240, since this section more or less comes from there
page xxvi, "by bringing together of" should be either "by bringing together" or "by the bringing together of"
page xxviii, "first-rate creative" should read "first-rate, creative" (checked source)
page xxviii, "intellect and, a" should read "intellect, a" (checked source)
page xxviii, "get close" should read "get as close" (checked source)
page xxviii, "as possible" should read "as is possible" (checked source)
page xxviii, "within the bounds" should read "within the limits" (checked source)
page xxix, '"Jefferson Establishment"' shouldn't have quotes around it in this way, because it's embedded between two actual quotes of Gordon-Reed but this phrase isn't actually a part of the quote sequence
page xxix, "An Intimate History" should be italicized as in the original
page xxix, "non-whites" should read "non-white" (checked source)
page xxix, footnote 77, "xix-xx" should read "xix"
page xxix, 'life" than' can actually be quoted further - 'life than"'
page xxix, "time to" should read "time than she to" (checked source)
page xxix, footnote 78, "xxii, xxiv" should read "xxii"
page xxix, "many and—continues" should read "many-and continues" (em dash - sublime text doesn't preserve) (checked source)
page xxix, "mixed-race-mixed-status" center dash should be an en dash (checked source)
page xxx, "without necessarily replicating" should read "without replicating" (checked source)
page xxx, "Brodie's psychosexual Freudianism" should read "Brodie's Freudianism" (checked source)
page xxx, "from modern psychologists" should read "from psychologists" (checked source) - this seems like a judgmental freudian slip
page xxx, "judgement" should read "judgment" (checked source)
page xxx, "as a cultural historian I am wary" should read "A cultural historian abides by similar principles, which makes me wary" (checked source)
page xxx, 'into "trouble' can actually be quoted further, '"into trouble' (checked source)
page xxx, 'was "bitten' can actually be quoted further, '"was bitten' (checked source)
page xxx, not really an errata, but 'while Brodie "took too many liberties,” she “documented' could have been a more direct quote, "While she took too many liberties, Brodie documented". why the hatchet job?
page xxx, "hard-driven philosopher" should read "head-driven philosophe" (checked source)
page xxx, "mold in" should read "mold, in" (checked source)
page xxx, "that.... In" should read "that. In". this is improper use of ellipsis, since the source only separates the two words by a new paragraph, which is a formatting difference -- there is no elided text as would be signified by the ellipsis.
page xxxiv, "bizarre man with a bizarre wife" should read "bizarre man [with] a bizarre wife" (checked source) -- also note that this quote is repeated in the main text, page 188, but quoted differently (and also incorrectly) there
page xxxiv, "unpublished or" should read "unpublished, lost, or" (checked source)
page xxxiv, '" in seeking out the out the' should read 'in seeking "out the' (checked source)
page xxxiv, "twentieth century" should read "twentieth-century" (checked source)
page xxxiv, "psychoanalysis" should read "analysis" (checked source) -- another negatively tinted freudian slip
page xxxiv, 'psychoanalysis" to' can actually be quoted further, 'analysis to"' (checked source)
page xxxiv, footnote 97, "xv, 129" should read "xviii, 166" (checked source)
page xxxiv, "first class" should read "first-class" (checked source)
page xxxiv, "without supporting historical evidence" should be italicized (checked source)
page xxxiv, 'that " Burton' can actually be quoted further, '"that Burton' (checked source)
page xxxiv, "crypto-homosexual or" should read crypto-homosexual, or" (checked source)
page xxxv, "Britain thereby altering the" should be 'Britain" thereby altering "the' - this confusing section smashed 2 quotes from 2 different sources together, and changed their wording to make it work
page xxxv, "straight-laced" should read "strait-laced" (checked source)
page xxxv, "nineteenth century Great Britain" should read "19th-century Britain" (checked source)
page xxxv, footnote 101 - this ENTIRE QUOTE SECTION is not from the book being referenced, but instead the first quote-and-a-half (see above correction) is from the December 2006 American Historical Review review for the book by Robert Aldrich, page 1598, and the second half-quote minus the mangled connecting part is from the August 2005 Library Journal review by Sean Michael Fleming, p. 97, also found on the De Gruyter Brill press page for the book - https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.4159/9780674039483/html - and in the amazon listing reviews - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674025520
page xxxvii, "revealing[, and]" should read "revealing, [and]" (checked source)
page xxxvii, "assiduous [in] research and... stylish... [in] writing" is hacked inconsistently from the original, "so assiduous is her research and so stylish her writing". the second ellipsis and bracketed word is replacing just a single word, whereas the first bracketed word without ellipsis is replacing two words
page xxxvii, "raising important questions about Nixon’s life." should be 'raising "important questions about his life"', since the original quote is "framed important questions about his life" (checked source)
page xxxvii, "just a bit" should read "a bit" (checked source - was a PAIN to reconstruct from google books)
page xxxvii, "biography we" should read "biography, surely, we" (checked source)
page xxxvii, "ideological and personal hostility" should be in quotation marks (checked source)
page xxxviii, "seemed the model" should read "seemed a model" (checked source)
page xxxviii, "mythology" should probably read "methodology". as stated, it doesn't make any sense, but possibly Bringhurst is mixing this source up with Irwin Gellman, who uses the term "myth" to describe "Nixon haters"
page xxxviii, "Nixon hater" - technically, the source groups her among the "Nixon haters" - it doesn't use the singular, so this is still a misquote (checked source)
page xxxix, "John and Robert Kennedy" should read "the two Kennedys" (checked source). the epilogue to this book, which this intro borrowed liberally from, correctly keeps "John and Robert Kennedy" OUTSIDE the quote (page 294)
page xxxix, "'envied and resented.'" should not have quote marks (checked source)
page xxxix, "understanding to what" should read "understanding of what" (checked source)
page xxxix, "kind of a human" should read "kind of human" (checked source) -- same mistake on page 294
page xxxix, `to "push` should have it's quote extended to `"to push` (checked source) -- page 294 gets it right
page xxxix, "why Nixon was" should read "why [Nixon] was" (checked source) -- same mistake on page 294
page xxxix, the large final Oliver Stone quote is suspect, but I haven't been able to get my hands on the 1996 paperback version of Past Imperfect that would resolve this - my university misplaced their copy. The extended version of the interview as published in Cinéaste is missing this entire quote, and the phrase "shadow areas" seems to actually come from a later Oliver Stone interview that discussed JFK and Nixon together. what I did find is that this whole section is ripped from Bringhurst's June 2006 Clio's Psyche article, "Epilogue: Why I Wrote Fawn McKay Brodie and Her Legacy: A Biographer’s Perspective", but he actually misquotes himself! and the 2006 article is also in appendix A of the book, so you can flip between the pages and see the misquotes
page xli, "of a biography" should read "of biography" (checked source)
page xli, "of biography" should read "of a biography" (this source was actually quoted by James Atlas in his “Choosing a Life.” which makes me suspicious that this "quote" is actually Bringhurst quoting Atlas quoting Edel, since the second half of this paragraph strongly reflects details in the Atlas article's surrounding context, but I was wrong - the situation is worse - see below)
page xli, "enacts the main" should read "enact[s] the main" (checked source). This misquote is the SAME misquote that Robert Dallek made in his September 1991 American Heritage article, "My Search for Lyndon Johnson" - which you can read here -- https://www.americanheritage.com/my-search-lyndon-johnson. More alarming, it's CLEAR that Bringhurst lightly rearranged the quotes but basically plagiarized the first paragraph of Dallek's essay. Dallek: "Leon Edel, who spent twenty years writing a five-volume life of Henry James". Bringhurst: "Leon Edel, who spent twenty years writing his five-volume life of Henry James". What's worse is that Dallek was not-quite-accurately repeating information from the Atlas source. Atlas was clearly giving a round figure, which is why he had said "the better part of two decades". The actual number looks like it was 22-23 years - around 1949-1972. Note also the ridiculous telephone chain: Bringhurst is quoting Dallek who is quoting Atlas who is quoting Edel.
page xli, footnote 1, "Dallack" should read "Dallek"
page xliii, 'to " elicit' can actually be quoted further, '"to elicit' (checked source)
page xliii, footnote 5, "2" should be "28" (checked source)
page xlvii, "to find these" should read "to find out these" (checked source)
page xlvii, 'his " ironic' can actually be quoted further, '"his ironic' (checked source)
page 23, footnote 47, plus page 28, footnote 62, plus page 68, footnote 59, plus page 75, footnote 2, plus page 88, footnote 35, plus page 89, footnote 38, plus page 91, footnote 43, plus page 130, footnote 16, twice, plus page 179, footnote 37, plus page 266, footnote 64, "Libraries in My Life" should read "The Libraries in My Life" (checked the University of Utah archives listing, acquired typescript copy; and also google books has a Utah Libraries, vol 22, issue 1 copy of the speech)
page 26, "she wrote at age ten" - even though Fawn was 10 when her poem was published, the source explicitly says "Age 9", which possibly means she wrote it before 15 September of that year (her 10th birthday), even though it was published in November. also, the poem is 10 stanzas, and the author only quotes the final 3, not indicating that there were more
page 26, "childs homes" should read "child homes" (checked source)
page 26, "to the castles" should read "To the castles" (checked source)
page 26, `"just a minutes"` should read `'just a minutes'` (directional single quotes - my default editing tool doesn't use them)
page 26, "that's worthwhile" should read "that's worth while" (checked source)
page 26, "Fawn apparently produced a second poem". this is just the recollection Flora, but not something Fawn indicated - Fawn only recalled the Juvenile Instructor poem. importantly, I checked the ocr of the entire run of Child Life issues from 1922 through 1930, and found several "fawn" and "mckay" (case insensitive) references, but none for Fawn McKay, so I'm pretty confident this was a false memory
page 28, 'The Dear Pretender, "about' can actually be quoted further, '"The Dear Pretender, about' (checked Utah Libraries, vol 22, issue 1 copy of the speech)
page 34, "ever say my mother" should probably read, "ever saw my mother". likely typo
page 41, "providing for compulsory" should read "providing compulsory" (checked source -- digitized! https://digital.weber.edu/details?id=106226. the referenced page also has another picture of Fawn McKay)
page 42, "East Lafayette" should be "West Lafayette"
page 42, "jail together" should read "jail, together" (checked source)
page 42, "drove along the Mississippi River to Nauvoo, where they viewed many sites associated with the early history of the Mormon Church" should modified to the following, `"drove along the Mississippi River to Nauvoo where they viewed many [sites] associated with the [early] history of the [Mormon] church."` the quotation marks are necessary because the author PLAGIARIZED THE SOURCE DIRECTLY and only changed a few words!
page 42, footnote 105, "Teachers College" should read "Teacher's College" (checked source. otherwise, the actual name of the college was "Northwest Missouri State Teacher's College")
page 42, footnote 105, "Purdue University" - although correct, the source said "Purdee University"
page 43, `seeing-here she paraphrased Carl Sandburg—"the city of the big shoulders." (uses em dashes) - the source said `seeing the "city of the big shoulders."` so the quote could be fuller but would need the Carl Sandburg reference moved after the quote.
page 43, "confessed" -- this makes it sound like these expressed feelings were part of her private letter to Dilworth, even though the following words were part of the Acorn narrative. also, Bringhurst exhaustively listed all of the debates EXCEPT for the one in Chicago at Lorretto Academy, so it seems like an accidental omission
page 50, "Seek ye the truth and the truth will make you free" - I wish the author cited quotes like this right at the location of the quote, rather than as a collection of citations at the end of a paragraph. Are these Dean Brimhall's actual words misquoting John 8:32? Is Bringhurst misquoting again? I would like to know!
page 54, `Joseph Smith, "in the absence of [tangible] information,... was` - the author rearranged the source with an insertion and ellipsis when he could have just quoted 2 additional words from the source to get: `"in the absence of information Joseph Smith was`
page 54, "information,... was" should read "information... was" (comma missing from source)
page 54, "deliverance" should read "deliverence" (typo in source)
page 68, "selling hosiery at a Marshall Field department store" - this should be in quotation marks. The original quote is, "began to work in a job selling hosiery at Marshall Fields Department Store"
page 68, "Marshall Field" more colloquially (and matching the source) should read "Marshall Field's"
page 68, "The salary was $16.50 a week." this should also be in quotation marks, since it verbatim matches the source
page 68, "detested selling" - this is another direct quote
page 68, "she was a night clerk on the circulation desk" - actually she says she was "eventually" given this position, implying she was doing other work at first
page 68, "The pay was considerably more than she received at Marshall Field" -- still using the name wrong, and also Brodie explicitly said "The salary was the same, about $100 a month" -- implying perhaps that she made 1 or 2 $25 bonuses per month from her previous job
page 70, once, plus footnote 63, plus pages 327, 348, and 350, `"Mormon Security"` should read `'Mormon "Security"'` (checked source)
page 72, three times, plus footnote 70, plus page 112, three times, plus footnote 103, twice, plus page 113, once or twice depending on the source, plus page 146, plus page 150 depending on the source, plus pages 221, 335, and 348, "De Voto" should be "DeVoto" (Bringhurst gets the name right in his 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article)
page 72, "the earliest appearing in The American Mercury in 1926" -- well, no. the biography Bringhurst cites as well as a bibliographical index of his works cite his essay "Ogden: The Underwriters of Salvation" as published earlier in "The Taming of the Frontier", edited by Duncan Aikman (1925)
page 72, footnote 70, "Mormondoms's" should read "Mormondom's" (checked source)
page 75, "a full-time librarian... and a part-time journalism teacher" - the quoted source and page don't say these things about her -- must've been a different source
page 75, "including crucial books by Ethan Smith, Elias Boudinot, and others, all of whom believed that the American Indians descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel" -- this is almost a direct quote. should therefore be quoted as something like, `"including crucial books by Ethan Smith and Elias Boudinot and others, [all of whom] believed that the American Indians... descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel"`
page 79, footnote 14, "1994" most likely should read "1944"
page 81, "a bestseller by university press standards" is a near quotation of the source, so could be quoted as `"a bestseller by most university-press standards."`
page 81, "Bernard Brodie, who had never served in the navy or even been aboard a naval vessel, came to be considered a leading expert on contemporary naval strategy". this is a clear paraphrase of Kaplan's "The Wizards of Armageddon", page 18, even though not one of the cited sources for this paragraph. From Kaplan's book: "Bernard Brodie, who had never seen an ocean much less been on a battleship, was coming into a sort of fame as one of the very few American civilians making a name for himself in the realm of contemporary strategy"
page 87, `the "real writer` - quote could be expanded (if using the text and not headline) to `"the real writer`, or even further with a single word change
page 87, "Joseph Smith and his influence" - this is a misquote. should be "Joseph Smith... and his influence" (checked source. has a nice picture of Brodie)
page 87, "a file of newspaper clippings" -- this is actually a quote! from page 14 of "The Libraries in My Life"
page 87, "newspapers Joseph Smith had read as a youth in Palmyra" -- this is a quote from the same source
page 89, "Joseph Fielding Smith" - Fawn's later recollection referred to him as "Alvin Smith" - this is also the name given in the acknowledgments of "No Man Knows My History", so I think she may have interacted with someone of this name in the Church Historian's Office. she also recollected writing 6 chapters before winning the Knopf award, though the contemporary evidence indicates 7 chapters, and misremembered Israel Smith as Frederick Smith
page 89, footnote 37, notes that Brodie thought the restrictiveness of the church history department was due to Richard English's "The Mormons Move Over" article. I read that article and such a connection makes no sense - it just discussed some contemporary scenes of life in Utah during the war
page 90, "he was a thoughtful man and a scholar" - should be in quotation marks since it is a direct quote (checked source)
page 90, "well acquainted with Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews, which" - should be in quotation marks since it is a direct quote (checked source)
page 90, footnote 40, "further, I wrote" should read "further, and wrote" (checked source)
page 90, footnote 40, "Libraries in my Life" should read "The Libraries in My Life"
pages 90-91, "an important source of the ideas in the Book of Mormon" - should be in quotation marks since it is a direct quote (checked source)
page 91, "evidence of polygamy in the early days of the Church" - should be in quotation marks since it is a direct quote (checked source)
page 91, `admitted quietly, "There were indeed strange things going on at Nauvoo."` - this is a quote of the source, quoting Smith. should be marked differently
page 92, "1832 and their expulsion from Jackson County" -- this was 1833, not 1832
page 94, "The massacre was actually carried out by a group of Indians" of the Mountain Meadows Massacre -- this is outrageously wrong, both in fact and inflection
page 95, "intensely ambitious but frustrated - until he deliberately" - this should be in quotation marks with brackets around the em dash, as it comes from "Rocky Mountain Empire", page 232
page 95, "trappings of authority, the wealth from tithes, the adulation of the flock, and the choice of pretty girls for plural wives" - this should be in quotation marks with "as" instead of "for", as it comes from "Rocky Mountain Empire", page 232
page 103, footnote 77 -- could be updated to note the DNA studies that made this parental link highly unlikely
page 103, footnote 79 -- "19-21" should be "19-22" (checked source)
page 104, "Everything I have" should be "Everything that I have" (checked source)
page 108, "she knows her history" -- the "her" should be italicized (checked source)
page 108, "quickly added" -- weird use of an adverb for something that was 5 paragraphs -- half the essay! away
page 108, "been entirely controlled by her animosity toward the Church and its founder" - is directly quoting the source, so should be in quotes as follows: "been entirely controlled by her... animosity [toward] the church and its founder" (checked source). funny sidenote here: Israel Smith immediately after this editorial quoted Mark Twain, "An injurious truth has no merit over an injurious lie. Neither should ever be uttered"
page 110, "praised, as well as highly condemned ," -- neither comma is in the source. Bringhurst did a better job quoting this source than Marvin Hill did in his "Secular or Sectarian History?" essay. But he got the source entirely correct in his own 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article, from which much of the next several pages was directly taken with only a few modifications
page 111, "judicious" should read "judicial" (checked source) - Bringhurst correctly quoted this in his 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article (not all of the 1989 article correctly quotes sources - usually stray comma mismatches)
page 111, "well organized and well" should read "well organized, and well" (checked source)
page 111, "a surface portrait of the prophet" -- Bringhurst is painting a picture of mixed reception of "No Man Knows My History", but the problem is Gabriel's review was NOT criticizing Brodie's work, but impartially characterizing it. He was NOT finding fault with her "surface portrait" -- in fact, his words justify it: "Smith, she points out, was not given to the setting down of his innermost thoughts"
page 111, "James Burnett" should actually be "Whitney R. Cross" (checked source)
page 111, "new detachment and new material" -- these words should be in quotes (checked source)
page 111, "Mormon history proper" -- should be in quotes (checked source)
page 111, "betraying limited understanding" -- Bringhurst's description of Whitney R. Cross's review is fair here, which is important because this is one of the true weaknesses of Brodie's book. nevertheless, Bringhurst still mischaracterizes these "less positive" reviews -- Cross accurately described Brodie's strengths and weaknesses, ending with the balanced but laudatory note, "In spite of these weaknesses, her study of the prophet's character makes better sense than does any previous account, while her treatment of early Mormon history appears to be the ablest yet published"
page 111, "industrious and" should be "industrious, and" (checked source)
page 111, "any biographer can be" should be "any biographer can... be" or "any biographer can hope to be" (checked source)
page 112, "with innovations and inventions that, in fact, were not his" -- should be in quotes, except "that" should be bracketed or replaced with "which", and possibly comma differences (checked source, but picture blurry)
page 112, footnote 101, "biography because" should read "biography, because" (checked source)
page 112, footnote 103, plus page 113, twice, plus page 151, "De Voto's" should be "DeVoto's"
page 113, "a work distinguished" should be "a book distinguished" (checked source)
page 113, "essentially sympathetic" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 113, `be "subject to` can actually be quoted `"be subject to` (checked source)
page 115, "a well-bred colt" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 115, `a "good disposition` can actually be quoted `"a good disposition` (checked source)
page 115, "clean well-rounded eyes" should read "clean, well-rounded eye" (checked source) -- Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article also gets this wrong
pages 115-116, "But Dandy resented restraint" should be in quotes as `But "Dandy" resented restraint` (checked source), and the following quote immediately picks up from this one so they should be combined
page 116, "tied and" should read "tied, and" (checked source)
page 116, "attempt to portray the Mormon leader as a deceiver" should be in quotes, as "attempt to portray [the Mormon leader] as a deceiver" (checked source) -- Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article quotes it properly
page 116, "labored to give the book a scholarly color by use of numerous footnotes" should be in quotes, as "labored... to give the book a scholarly color, by [use of] numerous footnotes" (checked source)
page 116, "from doubtful sources" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 116, "and... [did] not" should read "and [did] not" (checked source)
page 117, "defending his mission and accomplishments" - Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article properly doesn't add this editorial flourish, because IT IS WRONG. More accurately, Bowen took umbrage with Brodie's account of the 1826 Bainbridge trial and asserted that "books can be false"
page 117, "no place in human experience for the transcendental" should be in quotes (checked source) - Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article quotes it properly
page 117, `it was easy to grant the author "the` should have the quotation extended to `it [was] easy to grant the author the` (checked source) -- Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article quotes it properly
page 117, "but it was the style of the novelist and not the historian" -- should be in quotes as a direct continuation of the previous quote (checked source), as "but it [was] the style of the novelist and not of the historian" -- again Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article quotes it properly
page 117, "gone before, pieced into" should read "gone before pieced into" (checked source) -- Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article quotes it properly
page 117, "theory that all of Smith's thoughts and actions were the result of slow and gradual evolution" should be in quotes, as "theory that all [of Smith's] thought and action were the result of a slow and gradual evolution" (checked source) -- Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article properly quotes it but not 100% accurately
page 117, "not animated by violent hatred" should be in quotes (checked source) -- Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article quotes it properly
page 118, "total depravity" should perhaps be in quotes -- in the original, Nibley used scare quotes here. In Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article, he properly uses quotes for this phrase
page 118, `a "complete` can actually be quoted `"a complete` (checked source)
page 118, "a strange reversal" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 118, "How was it" could be quoted "How [was] it" (checked source)
page 118, `that the overwhelming majority of Mormons could "so` should be quoted, `"that the overwhelming majority of Mormons [could] so` (checked source)
page 118, "of [their] theology" doesn't need the brackets -- it's exactly the original text (checked source)
page 119, "they longed for respectability" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 119, "polygamy [they] not" doesn't need the brackets -- it's exactly the original text (checked source)
page 129, "set out for upstate New York" could be in quotes (checked source)
page 130, "ran into a blizzard" could be in quotes (checked source)
page 130, `making her way slowly over the icy mountain roads, she wondered "forlornly` could have the quoted part extended as `"making [her] way slowly [over] the icy mountain roads [she] wondered forlornly` (checked source)
page 130, "sent a copy of the Purple account to Francis Kirkham" should be in quotes: `"sent a copy [of the Purple account] to Francis Kirkham"`
page 130, "slowly and imperceptibly receded from its position of complete domination over the political, economic, and moral aspects of Mormon life" should be in quotes, as "slowly and imperceptibly... receded from [its] position of complete domination over the political, economic, and moral aspects of Mormon life" (checked source)
pages 130-131, `combination of idealism and solidarity in the Mormon heritage was responsible for some "strange contradictions"` should have more of it in quotes: `combination of idealism and solidarity [in] the Mormon heritage [was] responsible for some strange contradictions` (checked source) -- italics could have been added for emphasis on "strange contradictions" if desired
page 130, footnote 16, "a second eyewitness account of the trial written just five years after the event" should be in quotes, as `"a second eyewitness account of the trial... written only five years after the event"` (checked source)
page 130, footnote 16, "had the document she went in search of proved a forgery she would have had to make major revisions in one of the chapters in her biography" should be in quotes as `"had the document [she went in search of] proved to be a forgery [she would] have had to make major revisions in one of the chapters in [her] biography"` -- from "The Libraries in My Life", page 18 (checked source)
page 131, "authoritarian and" should read "authoritarian, and" (checked source)
page 131, "tenaciously aware" should read "tenacious alike" (checked source)
page 131, `ideal." "There` could read "ideal. There" since nothing separates the quoted words in the source
page 131, "an increasing conflict" should read "an unceasing conflict" (checked source)
page 134, "attractive then researching" should read "attractive than researching"
page 139, "as the leading civilian military thinker of the day", "he was tiring of Yale", "his colleagues at the Institute of International Studies", "the ramifications of the atom bomb", and "questions of military strategy" should all be in quotes (checked source)
page 141, "Brodie advocated precision bombing of selected military targets" -- Gregg Herken's "Counsels of War" says: "Brodie argued... that the military-civilian distinction in targeting...became all but meaningless with the advent of the atomic bomb" (page 30) and by taking "into account the moral implications", Brodie "argued that cities and civilians should be spared" by "warning [city] populations beforehand of... impending attack[s], and allowing time for evacuation", also arguing for strategic "restraint" (pages 30-31). I double-checked my understanding by consulting Barry Zellen's 2015 dissertation, "Bernard Brodie and the Bomb", and found it interesting that in his non-public discussions he was a little more ruthless in his thinking; for instance: "the collateral slaughter of millions of people could in fact be construed to be a strategic advantage to the attacker" (page 147) and "his publicly published books and articles... sought to cultivate a more benign impression" (ibid.) and "we need Russians in order to defeat Russians... much potential benefit will come from making an effort to spare civilian populaces from nuclear annihilation" (page 150). In other words, the complexity of Brodie's views are hard to summarize succinctly and Bringhurst's summary is at best partial
page 142, "engineering studies and low-level operations research analysis" and "outstanding strategic thinkers" should be in quotes. the original says "analyses" (checked source)
page 142, "long-range strategic planning" is likely a quote of the source, page 107 (same phrase on page 51, but page 107 is highly proximate to the other quote) -- actually Appendix B cites Bruce L. R. Smith, The RAND Corporation: Case Study of a Nonprofit Advisory Corporation, 104 for this
page 142, "Henry Kissinger" -- afaik he didn't "join" RAND -- he worked as a consultant
page 142, "Charles Hitch" -- he didn't join RAND "later" -- he had joined in 1948
pages 145-146, "the phenomenon of the Mormon writer" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 146, "Virginia Sorenson" should read "Virginia Sorensen" -- the original misspelling was actually Brodie's
page 146, "Mountain Meadows Massacre" -- needs a "The", especially since the book isn't listed in the bibliography
page 146, "been raised either in the Mormon Church or alongside it" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 146, `"found Mormonism so fascinating or provocative that they could not “resist ` should be expanded to cover the whole quote, as `found Mormonism... so fascinating or so provocative that they [could not] resist` (checked source)
page 146, "outside of the Church" should read "outside the Church" (checked source)
page 146, `who "counted` should be expanded to `"who counted` (checked source)
page 146, "striving earnestly, if not always successfully, for" should read "strive earnestly if not always successfully for" (checked source)
page 146, "urbane and if possible" should read "urbane, and if possible" (checked source)
page 146, "loyalities" should read "loyalties" (checked source)
page 146, "publicly proud of the best Mormon novelists" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 146, "more suspicious of its young historians" is a mishmash of 2 direct quotes so should read `"more suspicious" "of its young historians"` (checked source)
page 146, "a potential threat" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 146, "instead of blasting such writers out of the Church, as they would have done for the same lit- erature a half century" should be in quotes, as "instead of blasting [such writers] out of the Church, as [they] would have done for the same literature a half century" (checked source)
page 149, "an able and disciplined historian" should be in quotes (checked source)
pages 149-150, `whatever he could find in Stevens’s life that was "tricky` should have the quote extended to `"whatever [he could find] in Stevens’ life that [was] tricky`
page 150, "permeates every chapter and" should read "permeates every chapter, and" (checked source)
page 151, "nuclear defense strategy" -- I would argue this phrase isn't exactly accurate. "nuclear strategy" is. The term "civil-defense" is related but not tied to this reference
page 164, "filled with insight" should read "filled with insights" (checked source)
page 164, "biographies, but" should read "biographies but" (checked the 25 Oct 1959 Springfield Union reprint)
page 165, "as among the finest" -- I'm suspicious of this wording but didn't consult the source
page 165, "Praise also came" -- reading Richard Current's review, although he lauds a few things about her book, overall it seems his review is negative
page 165, "Stevens's private life and personality" should be in quotes, as "Stevens' private life and personality" (checked source)
page 165, "possibly overemphasized" should read "possibly... overemphasized" (checked source)
page 165, "too little attention to such" should be in quotes - and with slight rewording more could be quoted (checked source)
page 165, "Ernest L. Linford" should be "Ernest H. Linford" -- his full name was Ernest Hess Linford (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/212512806/ernest-hess-linford)
page 165, "wonderfully sharp insight into the character of" should be quoted (checked source)
page 165, "he alluded to the volume's timeliness" -- no, he directly called it "timely" (checked source)
page 165, footnote 117, "391" should read "391-392" (checked source)
page 167, "He was the author of forty-three books" -- this is a hard to pin number. Brodie's intro counts 47 books, not including translations
page 168, "life to penetrate the jungles of central Africa" should be quoted, as "life... to penetrate the... jungles of Central Africa"
page 175, "views on tactical nuclear warfare" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 176, "horrors and immorality" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 176, "villains" -- technically, Brodie only used the singular in the article
page 181, "sixteen thousand acres of unspoiled greenery teeming with deer, foxes, raccoons, and rattlesnakes" should be in quotes, as `"sixteen thousand acres of... unspoiled greenery" teeming "with deer, foxes, raccoons, and rattlesnakes"` (checked source)
page 181, "Cutting across the Los Angeles basin, the mountains rose in some places to two thousand feet" should be in quotes, as "Cutting across... the Los Angeles basin," the mountains rose "in [some] places to two thousand feet" (checked source)
page 181, "natural contours" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 181, "Fawn dubbed the developers" and "she concluded" -- the article itself claims the citizenry "popularly" dubbed the developers, and further, that the developers were trying to prevent the making of the area into a state park. Bringhurst is making these ideas sound like they originated with Brodie -- but was she mastermind or mouthpiece?
page 181, footnote 44, "40" should read "39-40" (checked source)
pages 181-182, "across party lines and included" should be in quotes as `"party lines and include[s]"`
page 182, "sixteen thousand acres set aside as a regional park" could be quoted as `"sixteen thousand acres" "set aside" "as a regional park"` (checked source)
page 183, "Reporter magazine" -- technically, "The Reporter"
page 183, "the fate of the Santa Monica Mountains had become a political football" should be in quotes, as "the fate of the Santa Monica Mountains [had become] a political football" (checked source)
page 185, "good humor" should read "good humour" (checked source)
page 186, "in clinically defining some of the complexities of Richard Burton’s personality" is nearly a quote -- the original: "in defining clinically some of the complexities of Burton’s personality" (checked source)
page 187, footnote 62, "FMB to Brockway" should likely be "Brockway to FMB"
page 188, `"the strange contradictions"` should read `the "strange contradictions"` (checked source)
page 188, "to smooth things out" should read "to smooth them out" (checked source)
page 188, "[e]xcellent biography of a bizarre man who had a bizarre wife—and life" was weirdly edited - caring about initial capitalization for once, when that is not generally the rule. should instead read "excellent biography of a bizarre man, who had a bizarre wife and life" (checked source)
page 188, `diligent research and her deftness in keeping her narrative "moving` should be quoted more fully, as `"diligent... research, [and her deftness] in keeping her narrative moving`
page 189, "the least of this fine" should read "the least merit of this fine" (checked source)
page 189, "depth psychology" should read "depth-psychology" (checked source)
page 189, "called Brodie’s efforts to analyze Burton a failure" -- this is dead wrong. the article is, if anything, very positive about Brodie's contribution (checked source)
page 190, "more resourcefully... than any other" -- the quoted parts are out of order! an ellipsis doesn't let you rearrange content. the ellipsis should be removed and the two parts should be within separate quotations
page 191, "The Past is not dead" should read "The past is not dead"
page 195, "a two hundred to four hundred dollar increase in fees" -- technically "tuition", NOT fees, as described by Brodie (checked source)
page 195, "factor in California's industrial growth" -- technically a quote
page 195, "which included hostility" should read "which includes hostility" (checked source)
page 195, "and fear of being manipulated" should read "a fear of being manipulated" (checked source)
page 195, footnote 84, "became the title of Reagan's autobiography" could be in quotes, as "became the title of Reagan's... autobiography". the footnote itself
page 195, footnote 84, "throughout the article Brodie played with the amputation analogy" -- not really. it was mostly confined to the one section
page 198, "hundreds of billions of dollars" -- technically a quote from "The Wizards of Armageddon", page 340
page 198, "the very existence of such weapons—and the adoption of an unequivocal polity to use them—were prime guarantees of preventing war in the first place" should be quoted, as "the very existence of [such] weapons and [the adoption of] an unequivocal polity to use them...were [prime] guarantees [of] prevent[ing] war... in the first place" (checked source)
page 198, footnote 91, "320" should be "340" (checked source)
page 198, footnote 91 -- the Herken reference doesn't seem quite justified here
page 198, footnote 92, "218" should be "210" (checked source) -- though pages 217-218 do add some context, I don't think they're specifically used here or in the previous paragraph
pages 205-219,241,243 -- for some reason all the odd numbered pages are printed as page "203"
page 207, "was not static but evolutionary" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 207, "an astonishing change" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 207, `he "took a very` should have quote expanded to `"he took a very` (checked source)
page 207, "for an end to slavery" should read "for the end of slavery" (checked source)
page 207, "In every respect" could be quoted as "In every... respect" (checked source)
page 207, "total equality" could be in quotes (checked source)
page 207, "a stand" could be in quotes (checked source)
page 207, `far more radical" than` should have quote expanded to `far more radical than"` (checked source)
page 207, "for the purpose of social" should read "for purposes of social"
page 207, "mounting pressure" could be in quotes -- the whole sentence is a paraphrase (checked source)
page 207, footnote 16, "of the Book of Abraham" should read "in the Book of Abraham" (checked source)
page 207, footnote 16, "cursed as pertaining to the priesthood" -- this is NOT a quote from Brodie, and so needs a proper citation
pages 207-208, "truly devout Mormons found it impossible to accept the findings of Egyptologists, whose translations of the newly discovered papyri from which the Book of Abraham was derived totally differed from the earlier interpretations of Joseph Smith" -- could be made into a quote, as "truly devout [Mormons found] it impossible to accept the [findings] of... Egyptologists, whose translations of the newly discovered papyri from which the Book of Abraham... was [derived] differ[ed] totally from [the earlier interpretations] of Joseph Smith" (checked source)
page 208, "blacks the priesthood without a new revelation or new manifesto" should be in quotes, as "Blacks the priesthood without a new revelation or... new manifesto" (checked source)
page 208, "decisions made by Mormon" should read "decisions by Mormon" (checked source)
page 208, "number of Latter-day Saints" should read "number of Latter-Day Saints" (mis-capitalization in source)
page 210, "fat, cigar-smoking party boss, brainy, dedicated, but tactically ruthless, whose abiding ambition was to replace incumbent Governor Pat Brown" should be quoted, as "fat, cigar-smoking party boss... brainy, dedicated but tactically ruthless... whose abiding ambition was to replace [incumbent Governor] Pat Brown" (checked source)
page 210, "budget chopping Ronald Reagan" should read "budget-chopping Ronald Reagan" (checked source)
page 210, footnote 25, "Born in a small rural Texas community" -- no, he was born in Kansas. so said Brodie and so says wikipedia
page 210, footnote 25, "the youngest of five children. His father was an illiterate Mennonite sharecropper" should be in quotes, as "the youngest of five children... [his father was] an illiterate Mennonite sharecropper" (checked source)
page 210, footnote 25, `The "seriousness and piety" of his Mennonite heritage and Presbyterian upbringing were extremely important in shaping` -- the quote in the middle should be expanded to `"The seriousness and piety of his Mennonite heritage and Presbyterian upbringing were [extremely important] in shaping"` (checked source)
page 211, footnote 27, "(468)" should be "(467)" (checked source)
page 213, "the danger of assassination" could be in quotes (checked source)
page 213, `"general disenchantment" with all political leadership` could have the quote extended as `"general disenchantment [with] all political leadership"`
page 213, "magnitude of the hero to fit" should read "magnitude of a hero to fit" (checked source)
page 213, `the biographer or historian who felt compelled "to tell everything" in pursuit of truth` should have the quoted part expanded to `"the biographer or historian who [felt] compelled" "to tell everything" "in... pursuit of truth"` (checked source - another example of patchwriting) -- interestingly, Brodie is saying _she_ does NOT have a problem with this approach to dethroning "great heroes of the past", though other historians do
page 213, `"very little" but` could be expanded to `"very little but"` (checked source)
page 213, `in the form of a question: "Can` should have the quoted part expanded to `"in the form of a question: Can` (checked source)
page 215, "as a mistress his slave Sally Hemings, the quadroon half-sister of his late wife" should be quoted, as `"as a mistress [his slave] Sally Hemings, the... quadroon half sister of his late wife"` (checked online version of source -- https://www.americanheritage.com/great-jefferson-taboo)
page 215, `Jefferson, she began, was at Monticello nine months before the births of each of Sally Hemings’s children, as recorded in his own "Farm Book"` should be quoted as `"Jefferson," she began, "was at Monticello nine months before the births of each of Sally Hemings’ children[, as] recorded in [his own] Farm Book"` (checked source)
page 215, "the two men whom Jefferson most revered" -- HIGHLY suspect. again, when Bringhurst brings his own summary to a topic, he does it injustice. this characterization is only really fitting for George Wythe
page 215, "George Wyth, his law teacher whom he called his second father" should be quoted as "his law teacher, George Wythe, whom he called his second father" (checked source -- note that this was just more patchwriting, with a misspelling of Wythe's name)
page 215, "Brodie had found two accounts" -- well, she references two accounts and points to a broader context. Callender himself wrote of the liaison more than just twice
page 215, "evidence that Jefferson had treated Sally Hemings with special consideration" should be in quotes, as "evidence that Jefferson [had treated] Sally Hemings with special consideration" (checked source)
page 215, "Mulatto" -- not actually capitalized by Brodie
page 215, "immediately after he had begun his relationship with Hemings" -- not exactly precise here. Hemings arrived in Paris late summer 1787. the sojourn was in March 1788. the term "relationship" here is underspecified; so is "immediately". but it doesn't match Brodie's narrative
page 215, "of warm climate" should read "of a warm climate" (checked source)
page 216, "was a term applied to those men who preferred Black women" -- no, it was _Jefferson's_ understanding of the term that Brodie is pointing out -- `Jefferson had indiscreetly written that blacks preferred white women, just as "the Oran-ootan" preferred "the black woman over those of his own species"` -- her footnote also notes that the "common" understanding was `that the "Orang-Outang" was fond of native women and frequently ravished them`
page 216, footnote 42, "historian in our time" should read "historian in our own time" (checked source)
pages 223-239 -- for some reason all the odd numbered pages are printed as page "221"
page 228, footnote 74, "foremost authority on Indian art in Utah’s canyonlands" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 228, footnote 74, "extraordinary archaeological findings" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 228, footnote 74, "opened a treasure chest of great scientific worth" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 235, "really meant to say here and there in the letters" should have "really" italicized and "in the letters" should say "in his letters" (checked source)
page 235, "line of reasoning as hard to follow" should be in quotes, as "line of reasoning [as] hard to follow" (checked source)
page 235, `groping for "extremely` could have the quote expanded as `"grop[ing] for extremely`
page 327, "Parks and Politics in Los Angeles" line, "40–43" should read "39-42" (checked source)
page 235, "dismissed Brodie's biography" -- no, actually! the quotes Bringhurst chose don't really capture the ambivalence of his review. consider the fuller sentence from the review: "regardless of what one thinks of Professor Brodie's speculations about Jefferson's private life, they make for interesting reading in many more ways than the obvious one"
page 238, "the combination of boldness and tact with which she addressed the central issue" should be a quote, as "the combination of boldness and tact with which [she] address[ed] the central issue" (checked source)
page 238, "gossip incapable of" should read "gossip, incapable of" (checked source)
page 238, "all of which concerned Jefferson" should read "all of which greatly concerned Jefferson" (checked source)
page 238, "finding double meanings in colonial language and basing her arguments on the present usage of key words" should be a quote, as "find[ing] double meanings in colonial language, [and] basing her argument[s] on the present usage of key words" (checked source)
page 238, "that were fresh" might read "that [were] fresh" (checked cover blurb, but I saw it published in "The Virginia Quarterly Review" with this wording)
page 238, "compassion and literary skill" should read "compassion, and literary skill" (checked cover blurb)
page 239, `the "unrelenting rigor` should have quote expanded to `"the unrelenting rigor` (checked source) -- also this reviewer in total seems more positive about Brodie than Bringhurst makes her sound.
page 239, `"loosening up" our thinking about the third president by breathing "life and spirit" into a man who had heretofore appeared "cold` should have its quotation range greatly expanded, as `"loosen[ing] up our thinking about the third President [by] breath[ing] life and spirit into a man who ha[d heretofore appeared] "cold` (checked source) -- Bringhurst also could have quoted from Boller's closing words, "Professor Brodie, in short, has done a fine job"
page 239, "bad psychology" is more properly made into a quote, `bad "psychology"` (checked source)
page 239, `remained "persuaded` could have the quote expanded as `"remain[ed] persuaded` (checked source)
page 239, "Psychological tools" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 239, "restraint and recognition" should read "restraint and... recognition" (checked source)
page 239, `misused them, and in so doing, "badly` should have the quote expanded as `misused them, and in so doing... badly` (checked source)
page 239, footnote 99, "T. Henry Williams" should be "T. Harry Williams" (checked source)
page 240, `that as a rule he did not discuss "other people's books on Thomas Jefferson"` needs to be quoted, as in `'that as a rule he did not discuss "other people's books on Thomas Jefferson"'` (checked source)
page 240, "mish mash" should read "mishmash" (checked source)
page 240, "was not history as he understood the term" could easily have been made a direct quote, "is not history as I understand the term"
page 240, "dirty graffiti" -- this is NOT a direct quote. the author used "scribble graffiti" and "dirty words" in successive sentences
page 240, "book not a single Jefferson scholar" should read "book, not a single Jefferson scholar" (checked source)
page 240, footnote 100, "Time, February 17, 1975" -- technically, this source is superfluous and clearly not used in the attached paragraph. The entire content of the paragraph depends not on this, but on the other cited source. The other source, in fact, cites this Time article as one of a few sources that quote, partially or in full, the referenced speech
page 250, "Jefferson Revisited: How Relevant?" -- according to the Washington Post description, the title was "Thomas Jefferson Revisited: How Relevant?" -- but that author hasn't been established as particularly reliable, and the review seems intentionally colorful, which unfortunately due to Bringhurst's editorial style, means the recollection he gives is also colorful
page 250, "all men are created equal" should be "All Men are created equal" or "All men are created equal" (depending on which copy of the quote was used; checked source)
page 250, "Brodie could hardly contain her outrage" should be quoted, as "Brodie... could hardly contain her outrage" (checked source)
page 250, "Wills's remark" -- so, Wills' original "Uncle Thomas's Cabin" review says "She was like a healthy and obliging prostitute" (https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1974/04/18/uncle-thomass-cabin/). The Washington Post column makes it clear that Brodie expressed outrage at what Garry Wills "had written". So not a remark from the debate
page 250, "as he would a healthy prostitute" should be "as he would have a healthy prostitute" (checked source) -- note that the Post misquotes Wills' original article, and then Bringhurst misquotes the Post
page 250, "the pamphleteer who first alleged a Jefferson-Hemings liaison" should be in quotes, as "the pamphleteer who first [alleged a Jefferson-]Hemings liaison" (checked source)
page 250, "scrappy debate" -- this phrase appears to be taken from the previously cited Washington Post article, but it doesn't appear in the footnotes for this paragraph
page 250, footnote 15, "The Bantam paperback was reissued in 1998, followed by Norton doing a new edition in 2010" -- first off, the Bantam reissue was in 1981 and possibly 1985 (https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/229075-thomas-jefferson-an-intimate-history). the 1998 issue was by W. W. Norton. Also, the 2010 issue note makes it clear THIS FOOTNOTE CHANGED FROM THE FIRST EDITION! I had thought the reprint ONLY added the new foreward!
page 252, "The Historical Hazard" should read "The Historical Hazards" (as mentioned in Deseret News, 18 Oct 1974, https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=26320242 and in the University of Utah student newspaper, The Daily Utah Chronicle, 17 Oct 1974, https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=23308667)
page 252, "a standing-room-only crowd in the fine arts auditorium at the University of Utah" should be quoted, as "a standing room only crowd in the Fine Arts Auditorium at the University of Utah" (checked source)
page 252, "a judgment of Nixon presented many hazards to historians" should be quoted, as "a judgment of... Nixon present[ed] many hazards to historians" (checked source)
page 252, "Oval office" should read "Oval Office" (checked source)
page 252, "a very private man, his feelings" should be in quotes. also, she said he is "described as" a private man, not that he "was" (checked source)
page 252, `go down "as one` could have quote extended to `"go down... as one` (checked source)
page 252, "notorious for his slips of the tongue" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 252, "clues as to what was troubling him" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 252, `Historians "will have` should have the quote expanded to `"Historians will have` (checked source)
page 252, "Mr. Nixon's statements backwards" should read "Mr. Nixon's statements backward" (checked source)
page 252, "such as his remark" should read "such as the his remark" (typo in original; checked source)
page 252, "paranoia, Brodie continued" -- the narrative Bringhurst gives is out of order from his source, so he shouldn't be saying Brodie is "alluding" to Nixon's paranoia at a point in the speech that the record doesn't show had _mentioned_ his paranoia yet, nor claim continuation of a speech with a quote that came from the _beginning_ of the record, not _after_ the parts Bringhurst has it apparently continue from
page 254, "lieu tenant governor" should be "lieutenant governor" (although `lieu tenant` accurately captures the origin of the word)
page 263, "The Hero of Amy's School" should be "Amy's School Can Look Back Proudly" (checked source -- didn't check the other sources to see which the author mixed up)
page 263, "the club-footed old" should read "the grim, club-footed old" (checked source)
page 263, "President of the United States" should read "President-elect of the United States" (checked source)
page 264, "Thomas Jefferson" should be "John Adams", since he was the 2nd president and Jefferson the 3rd
page 264, "nuance, omission, and self-concealment" could be in quotes, as "nuance, omission, [and] self-concealment" (checked source)
page 264, "unconscious death wish" should NOT be in quotes -- it wasn't in the article. The phrase "death wishes of the Vice-Presidents" was used in the intro to the overall section, and "deeply repressed death wishes" WAS in the article but about Theodore Roosevelt, not Lyndon Johnson (checked source)
page 265, "off to Chicago" should be quoted (checked source)
page 265, "went up the walls of life with his claws" should be enclosed in extra quotes -- this part is a quote of Brodies' words, whereas the rest are Vaughn Roche's summary of her words (checked source)
page 265, "misfortunes of others" should read "misfortune of others" (checked source)
page 266, "the libraries of my life" should read "the libraries in my life" (checked source)
page 267, "as much media attention, if not more than, Brodie’s own" is awkward wording. Consider an alternative, like "as much, if not more, media attention as Brodie’s own"
page 272, "was a natural target because of his right-wing sympathies" should be in quotes, as "was 'a natural target' because of his right-wing sympathies" (checked source)
page 272, "up to stoning was good political" should read "up against stoning was political good" (checked source)
page 272, "Yankee had balls" should read "Yankee has balls" (checked source)
page 274, "John Ehrlich man's" should read "John Ehrlichman's"
page 280, "daughter-in-law expert" should read "daughter-in-law-expert" (the last dash an em dash; checked source)
page 287, `Brodie "requested` could have the quote expanded to `"Brodie requested` (checked source)
page 288, `distinction" whose work attracted international attention and acclaim` could have the quote meaningful expanded as `distinction whose work... attracted international attention and... acclaim"` (checked source)
page 288, "history, in general, moved" should read "history... moved" (checked source) -- the elided words do not in any way imply "in general"
page 288, "openness, objectivity and honesty" should read "openness, objectivity, and honesty" (checked source)
page 288, "a very warm human" should read "a warm human" (checked source)
page 288, `a "remarkably` could have the quote expanded to `"a remarkably` (checked source)
page 288, `a "major impetus` should more accurately be quoted `"the major impetus` (checked source)
page 288, "She had intended... through Watergate... realized her time was limited... access to his tapes and papers, she ended... with Nixon's pre-presidential years" <- I cut up Bringhurst's language just to compare it to the source: "Brodie originally intended to carry her Nixon study through the Watergate period. Realizing that her time was limited by illness and aware that access to the Nixon tapes was essential for a thorough study of the presidency, she ended the book with Nixon's years as a New York lawyer". It's close enough to qualify as patchwriting
page 289, "climaxed a series" should read "climaxes a series" (checked source)
page 289, "For Nixon, Brodie maintained" -- first off, Brodie attributes this quote to White House aide Emmet Hughes, and secondly, "For Nixon" is from the source so should be in quotes (checked source)
page 289, "[was] four corpses" really sounds better grammatically by re-inserting an elided word: "[was] over four corpses" (checked source)
page 289, "of all aspects" should read "of all the aspects" (checked source)
page 289, "capacity for love" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 289, "castrating mother" should NOT be in quotes (checked source) -- Bringhurst seems to have misattributed this precise phrase by borrowing it from the Robert Lekachman review he quotes on page 291
page 289, "hardened his conviction that broad-scale attack was the certain way to victory" should be in quotes, as "hardened his conviction that [broad-scale] attack was the certain way to victory" (checked source)
page 289, "deep, dark rage" should read "deep dark rage" (checked source) -- also, Brodie is quoting William Safire on Nixon, but Bringhurst makes it sound like Brodie's own words
page 289, "so-called identity crisis" -- Brodie never calls it this
page 289, `fantasy life for himself"` should have the quote shortened to `fantasy life" for himself` (checked source)
page 289, footnote 7, "29" should probably read "25,29,55" (checked source and compared to subjects of referencing paragraph)
page 289, footnote 8, "24–25" should be preceded by "9, 22, " (checked source)
page 291, `account" of` could have the quote extended as `account of"` (checked source)
page 291, `kinship in her portrayal` contains the boundary of two quotes stiched together, so it should read `kinship" "in her portrayal` to properly separate them (checked source)
page 291, "ideological and personal hostility" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 291, "Nixon's conduct of the Vietnam War" should be in quotes (checked source)
page 294, "kind of a human" should read "kind of human" (checked source)
page 294, "why Nixon was" should read "why [Nixon] was" (checked source)
page 295, `point" between` should have the quote expanded to `point between"` (checked source)
page 295, "New Mormon history" should read "new Mormon history" (checked source)
page 295, "unfolded the way they" should read "unfolded as they" (checked source)
page 295, footnote 22, "Old to Knew" should read "Old to New" (checked source)
page 301, "Utahan" should read "Utahn" (standard spelling)
page 305, "post--orld" should read "post-World"
page 314, "Bernard Brodie, continued Kaplan" should have "Bernard Brodie" in quotes (checked source)
page 314, "Gregg Herken, in his Counsels of War, evaluated Brodie" -- this is technically wrong. Bringhurst is quoting Herken quoting Thomas Schelling's evaluation of Brodie
page 335, "Dallack" should read "Dallek" (checked source)
page 341, "Richard Nixon: The Shaping of His Personality" should read "Richard Nixon: The Shaping of His Character" (checked source)
throughout, there are minor formatting inconsistencies, such as "The Wizards of Armageddon" _usually_ being cited as "Wizards of Armageddon", but sometimes using the full title
content summaries:
Chapter 1 "An Idyllic Childhood"
Covers the first 16 years of her life (up through her graduation from Weber College), in which her home and family life is sketched with some care and skill.
Chapter 2 "A Quiet Kind of Moving Out"
Covers the rest of her college carrier, moving to Chicago, meeting and marrying Brodie, up to her parents moving to Europe when she was almost 22. I was surprised by some details -- having only read the church-commissioned "Pure Religion" book by Glen Rudd, I was NOT aware that Fawn Brodie and her husband had discovered fraud related to the church's public relations story versus what the Church Security Program actually accomplished. The footnotes here also led me to the "Mormon Corporate Empire" book and the Leonard Arrington / Wayne Hinton article (https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/origin-of-the-welfare-plan-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints) that, even though it took pains to discount Brodie's casting of aspersions on the intentions of the brethren, essentially corroborates her account of political fraud. The church let the public believe that it had successfully taken its members off welfare, shaping the conservative movement against FDR in spite of the reality being that mormons were more likely than their non-mormon neighbors to need welfare services (Brodie highlighted "the church's exactions from its members" as feeding this correlation). That all also led me to Randy Powell, "Social Welfare at the End of the World: How the Mormons Created an Alternative to the New Deal and Helped Build Modern Conservatism" (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-policy-history/article/abs/social-welfare-at-the-end-of-the-world-how-the-mormons-created-an-alternative-to-the-new-deal-and-helped-build-modern-conservatism/CF1DC30EBF5E1898BD36A6B235A22963) -- unfortunately, since this book wasn't updated, new scholarship like this isn't part of its bibliography.
Chapter 3, "A Compelling Piece of Detective Work"
This chapter covers the years of researching Joseph Smith up through the publication and aftermath of "No Man Knows My History", including her excommunication. Interestingly, at the end Bringhurst quotes a letter from Brodie to Dale Morgan in which she admits to an autobiographical element in her production and a "compulsion to liberate" herself from both Mormonism and certain family members (page 124). This makes sense of why Bringhurst insisted on looking for these elements in her life story even when the evidence he marshalled wasn't always convincing. One thing I liked about the chapter is just how clearly Brodie's correspondence with Morgan mattered to her. This chapter doesn't emphasize some of the extended family dynamics and response as much as Bringhurst's 1989 Utah Historical Quarterly article does, but perhaps that's because much of the family dynamics is covered earlier in the book.
Chapter 4, "An Enormously Fulfilling Role"
This chapter covers what "after success" looked like -- and the 13 years it took to write her Thaddeus Stevens biography. Miscarriage, parental troubles, a permanent move to California, kids growing up -- there is a lot of meat in this chapter. You learn more about Brodie from her letters to Dean Brimhall, her uncle, in this chapter, as Dale Morgan kind of fades in importance.
Chapter 5, "A Fun Book to Write"
A move to Paris, a second brutal familial suicide. An exciting book about Sir Richard Burton, high honors from the Utah State Historical Society, the beginning of her career at UCLA, and becoming an empty-nester. The 1960's were eventful indeed for the Brodie's.
Chapter 6, "An Elaborate Psychological Exploration"
Fawn had to deal with Bernard's infidelity -- Bringhurst only has a single paragraph about this. The late sixties to mid seventies seem like a calmer period - kids getting married, dodging drafts, settling into adulthood. The loss of her friend Dale Morgan, and her uncle Dean Brimhall. The rise of Governor Reagan. And the publication of Brodie's controversial and very popular Thomas Jefferson book.
Chapter 7, "The Hardest Book"
Covers retiring from UCLA, the death of her husband, the busy speaking and writing schedule up until the swift progress of cancer took Brodie's life at 65.
Epilogue
Covers the reception of the Nixon book, and the posthumous influence of Brodie. Repeats a lot of info from the book proper and is itself repeated considerably in the new forward.
Appendix A
Repetition of a Dialogue journal article Bringhurst wrote.
Appendix B
Repetition of a less readily available online article Bringhurst wrote about Bernard Brodie. Fawn's husband was one of the most important military thinkers of the last century, so I think this is a very valuable contribution. It utilizes a good source on his life, Barry Steiner's book, that unfortunately wasn't referenced in the Brodie biography proper. Many passages from the biography are used in this article but are more sharply and accurately worded. This article's use of sources and proper quoting is for the most part correct, showing that some publications enforce higher standards and make their authors meet them. Same with Utah Historical Quarterly.
other notes:
-- the data is great; the interpretive boundary is faulty - the author's biases, although justifiable, seem to bleed into the text. He uses perjorative terms without defining them, clarifying them, or clearly quoting a source. Examples: words and phrases like "extremely sheltered environment" (page 28) and "repressive" to describe Fawn's childhood (page 46) don't seem borne out by the evidence presented.
page xxx, It's too bad the book didn't wait a few weeks before publishing, since Richard Kurin's book "History by a Hair" just came out, wherein they sequenced Jefferson's actual DNA and even more strongly established his fatherhood over Sally Hemings' children.
page xxxvii, Bringhurst claims that reviewer Godfrey Hodgson criticized and questioned "both her psy-choanalytic approach and her basic motives" -- this is an outright fabrication! Bringhurst is cherry-picking and miscontexualizing for the sake of making his narrative flow. I painfully reconstructed and read the source (can offer it on request) -- does this sound like he questioned Brodie's motives? "Brodie's is a dark picture, drawn with intelligence and with neither stridency nor malice." and "This is a fine biography. What Brodie does, she has done honestly and well. It is perhaps unfair to ask of any book that it should have been something other than it is. Yet Brodie has explained why Nixon lied - not why he was so hungrily believed." Which takes us to Hodgson's actual complaint about the book -- not that Brodie's approach is wrong (especially with how careful and detailed she is in using it), but that it doesn't always illuminate enough or ask the best questions. Hodgson explains, "In general, it is more rewarding to look at the cultural and political influences at work on a political character than at the emotional deprivations of an individual childhood."
page xxxvii, Jonathan Hastings "Jack" Chatfield taught history at Trinity, starting part time in 1977 and full-time in 1987. He titled his review after Hugh Nibley's 1946 religiously motivated character assassination of Brodie. Hardly coming to the book from neutral ground. He opens his review saying "I expected that I would dislike this book" and then he finds that he was right. He says, "This is bad psychology, bad politics, and bad history". I do find myself inclined to agree with the points made, but also I think the positive reviewers that I've seen of ALL of Brodie's books point out the same weaknesses of Brodie, but they still love her BECAUSE of the things she captures that a lot of "conventional" historians miss, which is BECAUSE of her devotion to the psychoanalytical approach, for all its flaws.
page xxxvii, "Even more blunt was political scientist J. Philipp Rosenberg". I actually think that his review was far better organized and less vitriolic than Chatfield's review. He rightly criticizes Brodie's failure to be consistent with her psychoanalysis -- "her use of the psychoanalytic framework leaves something to be desired". BUT he doesn't, per se, seem to have an axe to grind with the method itself, if only it was done correctly. He further says, `The real problem with this book is that the author's dislike for Nixon shows through
her claim of objectivity, particularly in her use of "loaded" terms`. I think the fact that Bringhurst didn't use this quote and instead chose the other for this paragraph, again just seems to betray a dislike of psychoanalysis generally. Also consider the part of the final review paragraph that Bringhurst chose NOT to quote: "It would be remiss, however, not to mention some very good points made in this book. The theme of survival without love is a good one. Her emphasis on Nixon's life-long identity crisis is also a point well taken. It is too bad that Brodie let her feelings interfere with her objectivity. While reading this book, I was struck by the difference between it and her earlier work on Jefferson, a much more objective psychobiography"
page xxxviii, claims that Herbert B. Parmet accused Brodie "of quoting other writers out of context to make her case". which is funny, because from everything I've seen, Bringhurst does this nonstop, but worse, he MISQUOTES nonstop. The impression Bringhurst is making is that Parmet accused Brodie of "systematic" misuse of her sources to create the Nixon she wanted. But in the passages Bringhurst quoted, Parmet's criticism was much more specific. His complaint was that "especially those who worked in the shadow of scandals and his resignation", like Brodie, were disinclined to see ANY signs of Nixon's native talent from his debate years, instead painting him as merely winning by being crooked. He highlights Brodie's selectivity in painting those days, claiming she "ignored" positive comments from her sources, with his overall summary being, "Pre-Watergate interviews were thereby used to confirm post-Watergate verities." Parmet's complaint was very specific, again summarized by his words, "The important thing is that, when everything else collapsed, even Nixon's ability as a debater became suspect"
page xxxviii, mentions Irwin F. Gellman's book covering Nixon's congress years that is harshly critical of Brodie. I would note that he pans the biographies that assume Nixon was always crooked, even though some of the exonerating evidence about Nixon's early conduct only emerged far later. For instance, Cronin didn't renounce his earlier account of a Feb 1947 Nixon briefing about Hiss until 1990. ex post facto judgment isn't exactly fair. Also, Gellman defends Nixon against "Red-baiting" by defending him against the claim that he was sympathetic with or as extreme as McCarthy. His rhetoric makes it sound like all these "Nixon haters" are simply "myth" makers, but the straw man McCarthy argument does nothing against the clear evidence of actual red-baiting in the book. Gellman also expressed, "Although I lean toward the Republican viewpoint in my voting habits, my historical research is not affected by my personal persuasion" and "Nearly every stage of his early congressional career has been distorted". But in trying to correct the record, he likely pushed harder than is warranted in the opposite direction, especially in dismissing the contributions of other biographies, like Brodie's, whose conclusions don't align with those he drew by focusing only on Nixon's congressional years.
page 10, "Although the eight McKay children were assigned an equal vote in the McKay Family Corporation, the sisters dominated discussions and decisions." see page 17, "Theoretically, each of the eight McKays had an equal voice. In fact, the corporation was dominated by the four McKay sisters, with significant influence exerted by the oldest brother, David O." this kind of thing, all over the place in this book, is a sign of different efforts being stitched together without an effective editorial hand
page 12, "brain fever" - intriguing summary that just leaves the reader wanting to know more about Alsina Elizabeth Wilkins. looks like their last child died after 3 months, she got an infection and her health deteriorated for 2 years before she was committed. if you read between the lines, it's clear she kept having kids back-to-back. married in 1874. I found their 6th kid was born in Oct 1883. this article --> https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/george-h-brimhalls-legacy-of-service-to-brigham-young-university <-- quotes her daughter opining about the fever and brain damage resulting from the final pregnancy. She was committed in late July 1885 or later, and was frequently visited by her husband for the next 40 years. he took a second wife almost immediately - an acquaintance from a school he administered, in Sept 1885. The decade following Alsina's death, George Brimhall committed suicide (see page 48 of the book)
page 24, of childhood stubbornness. "Such stubbornness would manifest itself later as a methodological weakness in Brodie’s research and writing" - oh no! the psychoanalytical approach!
page 24, "the McKays [considered] themselves a cut above other townspeople" - which source(s) really said this? we really have to trust the author.. but the problem with all biographies, is they're necessarily kind of autobiographic - they represent the viewpoints and selections of the author. maybe this is why i like documentary histories. then I can be the author of the framing narrative!
page 28, "deceit, treachery, [and] illicit love" -- Bringhurst gives the impression that Brodie learned these things from the novels in her home, but in the source she CLEARLY indicates that this learning mostly "came from the Carnegie Library in Ogden", NOT from the novels in her house
page 28, "extremely sheltered environment" -- the word "extremely" is Bringhurst's flourish on the source
page 29, "Golden Spike" -- Weber State actually digitized these volumes!
- https://digital.weber.edu/details?id=154371 - the 1928 volume, contains her sophomore picture on page 46, furthest left, 4th row
- https://digital.weber.edu/details?id=154498 contains the first issue with contributions by Fawn McKay. her junior picture is on page 41. page 61 lists her as "Socitey Editor" (it's a typo for "Society Editor" - responsible for the school’s social news) of the Golden Spike and features the SAME picture. Same picture, but less cropped, on page 78, where she's listed as "National Oratorical Contest". The following page explains, `Fawn McKay was Weber’s representative in the dis-trict finals of the Tribune Constitution Oratorical Con-test, where she won second place. Her topic was “The Constitution in the Daily Life of the Individual.”`. Page 82 shows that Fawn was among the "English Ladies" in the school play "Monsieur Beaucaire" and is likely in the accompanying photograph. Page 83 notes the Junior class won an 11 Feb "inter-class one-act play contest", with a "Gaius and Gaius Jr." play, which she might have been in. If so, her picture is on page 84, but I don't think so. Page 98 notes, "Fawn and Victor took note of all social and athletic events", reaffirming that she was a society editor. The weber copy was owned by "Elinor" - making it Elinor Stuart's sophomore yearbook - and has her classmate's signatures. Page 117 has Fawn McKay's note and signature: "Dear friend:- A friend at Weber is a true friend Fawn McKay" Interesting info and pics of Flora McKay as well
- https://digital.weber.edu/details?id=154635 contains her senior picture on page 38. Accompanying it is a list of her high school activities. "Who's Who Club, '30; Golden Spike Staff, '29, '30; Tribune Contest, '29, '30; Lewis Contest, '29, '30; School Play, '29; Red Domino Club, '29; Broad-caster Staff, '30; Debating, '30; President of Girls' Association, '30." On page 95, she's listed on the "Forensics" honor roll. On page 96, "Debating", it repeats the photo of Fawn McKay, but cropped, and says `Bob Jones and Mary Dern with Fawn McKay as alternate, constituted our affirmative team....The question was "Resolved that the age limit in the Utah state com-pulsory school law should be changed from eighteen to sixteen years."` On page 97, "Forensics", her picture is repeated again. It says, "Fawn McKay, for the second time, represented Weber in the Constitution National Oratorical Contest.". It also says, "A team of two members, Fawn McKay and Woodruff Deem... won the Lewis Oratorical loving cup." Her picture and name are again on page 100 for the honor roll. She's acknowledged on page 101, crediting contributors to the Golden Spike publication, with "Fawn McKay, whose poetic ability made possible the writing of several poems printed in the book". The poems referred to are probably those on pages 19 and 109. The rest seem attributed to other people, except for the Weber High fight song on page 51 and the Tribal Song on page 61. Her picture is repeated on page 102 and she is named in the "Society" roll as a member of the "Broadcaster Staff" (high school newspaper). Her name and picture are repeated on page 110 as part of the "Weber Honor Club". She's listed and somewhere in the group "Who's Who" photo on page 112. Her picture is repeated on page 114 as President of the Girls' Association. Red Dominos was a drama and fine arts club.
page 54, footnote 20, Bringhurst doubts Brodie's decade-later recollection from a letter to Morgan, and assigns her exposure to certain anti-mormon materials to an earlier period in her life. But Bringhurst is unreliable, so I don't trust this reconstruction -- especially since on page 61 he argues that her disaffection in Chicago took longer than she remembered -- which fits in with her exposure to this material at THIS time, just as she recollected!
page 70, "ambivalent relationship with her parents" - again reading into his sources and saying more than they seem to warrant. I just don't see the connection that he's trying to make. This seems like "connective tissue" for the following paragraph, but it just doesn't work for me.
page 72, "obsession with problems of sexuality" - the author is drawing a lot of connections here that I don't really think are warranted. it is hard to hear him deriving psychological explanations without having a solid framework by which to make these judgments -- it all feels somewhat ad hoc and again more autobiographical in nature than it perhaps should be
page 72, "less than flattering" - this is quite the understatement
page 74, "the Democratic Party appealed to Fawn because it represented another means by which she could assert her growing independence" -- that's just not why someone typically aligns with a particular political group. Feels like I'm reading Bringhurst again, instead of Brodie
page 79, "I didn't think at her age there could come such delightful blossoming of courageous heresy" - Fawn Brodie of her mother
page 97, footnote 61. the Time article referred to can be found here -- https://time.com/archive/6782316/religion-fundamentalists/ -- with the original scan here -- https://time.com/vault/issue/1944-03-20/page/57/. The only connection to J. Reuben Clark in the article would be the following passage: "Last week’s polygamy crackdown was prompted by an appeal by Mormon leaders themselves" -- so Brodie was definitely being speculative here, though I don't know if I would use Bringhurst's word "fascination" here so much as, perhaps, Brodie was convinced through her studies that the Freudian and sex-focused approach to psychology was the most illuminative or under-appreciated
page 120, footnote 118, "if there was any good reason Brodie could not be present, she should notify the individuals delivering the summons, something Brodie failed to do" -- funny coloring by Bringhurst, blaming Brodie for failing to make it clear she was too pregnant to travel, rather than faulting the missionaries for NOT SEEING HOW PREGNANT SHE WAS
page 154, footnote 83, "the editors of the Improvement Era doctored the photograph. Fawn's sisters Flora and Louise were wearing sleeveless blouses on the day they were photographed. In other words, they were not wearing Mormon temple garments" -- very funny note. nice to see the original photo in the book - and compare it to the doctored photo here: https://archive.org/details/improvementera5704unse/page/224/mode/2up. They also made Fawn's outfit way more plain and boring!
page 157, "she bitches a little more than she used to, which is certainly what she needs to do most" - now that's a good daughterly comment
page 160, "it was intense, high-pressure, and always grim" -- Bringhurst doesn't give citations for this paragraph. is this really how Bernard Brodie felt about his work? or is it Bringhurst's projection? there is enough evidence in other works of _later_ conflicts that Bringhurst's description might not be too far off the mark, but I haven't seen convincing demonstration for this earlier period
page 165, "origins of contemporary racial problems" is Bringhurst's mild rewording of "Armageddon between the races"
page 172, "why did she punish us all so much by punishing herself in such a horrible fashion?"
page 239, "Winthrop Jordan...was surprisingly negative" and "on the question of Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings" that is doesn't matter. NO and NO! Bringhurst AGAIN misreads his source. The "it does not much matter" quotation was about Maria Cosway, NOT Sally Hemings. Further, although Jordan quibbles with Brodie's approach and especially with the fit of 20th century psychological explanations for a cultural environment two centuries removed, his review is NOT that negative! Bringhurst chose to IGNORE quotes like, "I...think Brodie fundamentally right" regarding Jefferson's intimate personality. Also, "Very often Brodie is surefooted and acute.... Her discussion of his wife's death... is easily the best yet". Also, "In fairness, having said that Brodie is not always on target, let me add that most of her predecessors have been less so". Also, "Brodie's treatment of this and many other matters is the best so far". Also, CONTRA Bringhurst, Jordan said, "suppose...that Jefferson was the father [of Hemings' children]. We can immediately concede that the matter [is] of imporance... to us". Which is the OPPOSITE of what Bringhurst alleged.
page 239, "dismissed Brodie's book" -- well, no, when he said "not biography" he was making a _categorical_ distinction. he further says, "she did not wish to write a conventional biography", and also further classified her book as best fitting the genre of "psychobiography" or "psychohistory" instead
page 239, `dubbed the book "a disappointment"`. Um, the reviewer said, "Brodie's is a serious and often convincing account of Jefferson, psychologically vieded; only in terms of one's higher expectations for the author and the subject is the book a disappointment". What is Bringhurst doing? He also quotes the author as calling her biography "flat and one-dimensional". But he also says, "This is, by requirement, a short and thus over-assertive review", and the description of the flatness has to do with her method of separating different aspects of Jefferson's psyche ("head and heart"), and yet the reviewer also says, "the book...offers the most extensive extant psychological portrait of Jefferson" and that she uses "exactly the right method in this sort of work". So again, Bringhurst took a balanced review and spun it as negative, without highlighting what was criticized versus what was applauded. The hard thing is these inaccurate summaries then get repeated elsewhere and in other sources, such as the pbs frontline feature in the "Jefferson's Blood" project (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/cron/1974brodie.html)
page 260, "Undoubtedly aggravating her depression" -- I'm not convinced Bringhurst can read minds
page 289, "Brodie saw as his unhappy marriage" -- Bringhurst seems to be making this up wholecloth base on faulty assumptions. Brodie does NOT call Nixon's marriage unhappy (strained, sure), and I don't think historians generally do either.
page 324, "a close family friend" -- this detail about WHO wrote the letter that spared Bruce from the draft is interesting -- too bad it wasn't in the main text, page 224
