Review: ‘The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington’ by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch.
There’s a curious moment in the Republic where Socrates mentions purple eyes. Purple is the most beautiful color, Plato has the young men agree. And eyes are the most beautiful part of the body. So why, Socrates asks, do we not use purple to paint the eyes of statues?
Part of the answer, the Republic suggests, is the need for each part to play its proper role in the construction of the whole. But this implies a curious fact in aesthetics: Beauty does not come from simply stacking one beautiful thing on top of another. Beautiful parts need not make beautiful wholes.
Large conclusions in the theory of art arise from this point of Plato’s. Large conclusions in the theory of many fields, for that matter. An assembly of efficient parts doesn’t necessarily make for an efficient whole. An accurate collection of small historical facts doesn’t necessarily give us an accurate account of history. A set of interlinked short stories doesn’t necessarily cohere into a novel.
Or take The First Conspiracy, the recent nonfiction book published by mega-bestselling novelist Brad Meltzer with help from his friend, the documentary producer Josh Mensch. An account of an attempt to assassinate George Washington in the early days of the Revolutionary War, The First Conspiracy uses the techniques of Meltzer’s popular thrillers to do the work of nonfiction, relating an underappreciated moment of history. And the result is purple eyes. The book is just not as good as it should be. We get neither the drive of a fictional thriller, to which readers bring the willing suspension of disbelief, nor the power of a historical tome, to which readers bring a willing trust in the author’s grasp of context. read more
Too bad we do not hang treasonous actors today….
“Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.” Geo. Orwell
Funny, regarding the ‘purple eyes’: I was just reading something that said the colors we are familiar with are nothing like colors discussed in Greek times. They only described four colors, which were nothing like the terms we use today. And one was something like purple. But it didn’t necessarily mean what we think of as purple.
Have to do a little more research on this.
Originally Ben Franklin was against the war. He thought paying more taxes was necessary as the French & Indian War was extremely costly to the British, and it was.
Part of the gamble was, if one far away war was expensive, a 2nd one would not be sustainable. Just drag out the cost and the death toll, and the British would be forced to give up.
Benedict Arnold was not a traitor. He was treated LIKE TRASH by the resistance after sustaining an injury and not compensated or promoted.
There. I just taught you more interesting history so now you don’t have to read that book.
Benedict Arnold wasn’t treated well by the fledgling Continental Congress, but neither were most officers, including Washington (Valley Forge anyone?) Arnold was a vain, money-grubbing, inglorious man w/ few admirable qualities (other than courage). He was, most definitely a traitor, to England when he won the Battle of Saratoga, & a traitor to the Continentals when he plotted to turn over West Point (& hopefully capture George Washington). He sold himself to whomever could monetize & glorify him the most. No one could, or would trust him. He died in London, appropriately a bitter man, low on funds.