Boys Mystified Me, Although I Dreamed Vaguely

I've Read There Is No Such Thing As A Single Tear, That Old Poetic Trope. And Perhaps There Isn't, Since Hers Was Simply A Companion To My Own.

When You Handle Books All Day Long, Every New One Is A Friend And A Temptation.

The Thing That Most Haunted Me That Day, However...was The Fact That These Things Had - Apparently - Actually Occurred...for All His Attention To My Historical Education, My Father Had Neglected To Tell Me This: History's Terrible Moments Were Real. I Understand Now, Decades Later, That He Could Never Have Told Me. Only History Itself Can Convince You Of Such A Truth. And Once You've Seen That Truth - Really Seen It - You Can't Look Away.

I Was Filled With Angst In College, That I Struggled With The Question Of My Future, The Meaning Of My Life - Spoiled Sheltered Rich Girl Collides With Great Books And Is Devastated By Her Own Banality.

As A Historian, I Have Learned That, In Fact, Not Everyone Who Reaches Back Into History Can Survive It. And It Is Not Only Reaching Back That Endangers Us; Sometimes History Itself Reaches Inexorably Forward For Us With Its Shadowy Claws.