Land of Their Choice: The Immigrants Write Home, edited by Theodore C. Blegen. 463 pp. Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press. $5.75
Like all good things, history is the result of a true marriage. The bride is the record, the facts, What Happened. The groom is a visionary man, maybe even a loon, who has fallen in love. Toynbee or de Tocqueville, St. Matthew or Churchill, he brings passion and discovers meaning. He is always more than “objective.” A species of poet, he never merely bales his straw; he spins it into gold.
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