we bloggists are limited to 500-750 words per (with emphasis on the former figure). we were also asked to eschew notes. alas, i wish all i wrote in the piece were just ’say so’ but–except for the ‘zone’ and ’shoes marcos’–all items are drawn from my books. sometimes history is not pretty picture we imagine, nor is it the nice, neat package of our childhood fancy. propaganda is pernicious. the historians duty is to remove themselves from the picture and cut through as much BS as possible. that’s my short, short answer for a long, long war, viz., History v. Propaganda.