The Vietnam War. Yale Press' challenge has been to keep some distance from partisanship. It has sought to present its series as scholarly, detached from the agendas of left and right. Otherwise Yale Press will lose its chance to redefine history. It hasn't proved easy.
Facts keep getting in the way.
So do some noisy agendas. You'd think that Brent would bask in the series' continual controversy. Last week he was brooding instead. Ever since the project began, the right wing has embraced the Yale series. It leaped onto the findings about Soviet espionage and absolute control of the American Communist party.