PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewGuided by a historian’s sacred principles, she lets the story emerge from the thorough research she documents. Sobel does not condemn or excuse or flatter or even analyze the characters. She does not interpret the past through the lens of the present. She barely interprets the past at all. Even her language emulates the phrasing of the sources, as though modernizing her account would distract readers, reminding them of the interloper who stands between them and sheer documentation. The result is a far more accurate telling, of course, and a much subtler one ... The author of [this] fine book help[s] us understand the socially transformative power of a defiant dedication to something greater than our mundane human predicament.
