RaveThe Wall Street JournalSuch good faith that nobody could accuse Mr. Ellis of taking a partisan approach ... The deepest contradictions in American history—where sincerely heroic efforts fail while hypocritical compromises are necessary for the least-bad outcomes to play out—are the ironic lessons of the nation’s story. And that is why history remains much too complex to divide into narrative or political sides. It is, however, possible to divide the subject into partisans of good and bad writing. So if you are going to take a side, join Mr. Ellis’s.
