This is a history, in that it intends to describe what happened and suggest why. … I may have fooled around with a few facts. But I served as witness until as close to the end as anyone could have … and so there is not so much art in this as to make it irrelevant.

Early schema for author's now-familiar approach to historic events and persons; "The Go Big Red Fan" (prologue) - The Big U (1984)