Endnotes Are My Kink

On archival rabbit holes.

UPCOMING

Chilling at home on Thursday? Register here to attend my virtual event at the Gerald Ford Presidential Library—the final four in my series for New America!

RECENT HISTORY

I was thrilled to kick off the OSU’s America at 250 at the Mershon Center for International Security with the great Christopher McKnight Nichols. Check out one of his books, a much-lauded collection he co-edited with David Milne, which I’ve only just started.

APRIL BLUSH

A shoutout in Literary Hub by Katie Gee Salisbury, author of the new biography Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong.

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ENDNOTES ARE MY KINK

If Derek Zoolander had been distracted by beautiful people, the Prime Minister of Malaysia would have been assassinated. And if I hunt down every book’s bad-faith primary source interpretation, I’ll never finish my own.

But here’s the thing: I’ve stumbled upon some of my biggest finds during these kinds of fishing expeditions.

And even if I don’t…I love it. I can’t help myself. Endnotes are my kink.¹

Last week, I noticed a colorful quote in a secondary source.² The author, who we’ll call Brad, cited two sources:

1. An oral history.³

2. Chad, another biographer. ⁴

Chad only cited the oral history. Here’s the subject, recounting a specific memory:

I remember on one occasion...it was sort of a rainy day...All the children and the governess and myself were sitting beside the fireplace.

And here’s how Chad interpreted that quote in his biography:

Her most poignant memory...was of a stormy afternoon...in front of a blazing fire.

Look, rules exist for a reason, and if we all start breaking them, there’ll be no difference between fact and fiction. And as someone who follows the rules, I resent it! But it’s hardly the worst example of hyperbole I’ve seen this week, and today is Tuesday.

Still, it isn’t a victimless crime. The subject of the oral history was a real person. She shared a personal memory about “one occasion,” and Chad told his readers that she remembered it as “her most poignant” for his material gain. He’s done her dirty—and us. Readers trust nonfiction authors to relay accurate information. They assume that color comes from their literary efforts.

Some people get away with this shit. (See “Chernow Gonna Chernow.”) But for most, laziness does not a legacy make. I’d never heard of Chad and I doubt you have, either, which sounds about right.

See you soonish! Until then, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram. If you’d like a personalized copy of my books, please order them from Oblong.

1. Endnotes and footnotes contain source information about a quote or summary that’s in the text, where they’re sometimes identified by a superscript number. Here’s the difference: A footnote appears at the bottom of the page that contains the sentence. Endnotes are listed at the end of an article or book.

2. A secondary source is written by a person who didn’t witness or participate in the events being described. For example, my book on George Washington.

3. An oral history is an interview with someone who has personal knowledge of past events.

4. In a maddening plot twist, Chad’s book didn’t have endnotes.

I doubt there’s anything sinister there. The publisher likely told Chad, a professor who was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize, that his 900-page book was already big enough. He probably believed their promise: The notes would live on the publisher’s website—but it doesn’t. The URL is broken. The publisher hasn’t responded to my query…from March. Chad died over a decade ago.

I emailed Brad, the book I was reading before I fell down this rabbit hole, who generously responded with Chad’s notes.