James and his book stand in stark contrast to Gore Vidal and his widely read fictional work, Lincoln. Vidal’s anti-American, anti-conservative, anti-reality persona and his "historical fiction" account of Lincoln have somehow made it into the curriculum of high school history. Yes, that’s right. A fiction book is being taught in history classes.
It is distressing that a self-proclaimed work of “historical fiction” that has no authenticity save the basic storyline is studied and taught to students whose active imaginations and historical ignorance leave plenty of room for the twisted work to become firmly implanted in the mind as fact.
We can only hope that high schools don’t start teaching some of Vidal’s other theories, such as that the Bush administration may have allowed the 9/11 attacks so it could invade Afghanistan. “Osama was chosen on aesthetic grounds to be the frightening logo for our long-contemplated invasion and conquest of Afghanistan,” Vidal wrote in 2002.
Manhunt is a preferred alternative that teaches both literary skills and details of history as it captivates students and makes the past come alive.
The conservative value it represents is the insatiable quest for the facts of our nation’s great history so that we can both learn from our past and best understand the underpinning values from those who came before us. Vidal, like so many liberals in academia these days, seems hell-bent on redefining both history and our nation’s culture.
James Swanson, on the other hand, is committed to America’s foundational values, as expressed in documents such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. That’s why he works so hard, studying those documents and explaining them to others, adhering to the original intent of the authors - there is no place for revisionist history in his world. He knows that our future very much depends on how we apply the lessons learned from both the ugly and sublime events and people of our true history.