Sandy and the Methodists.

No, not Koufax.

When I went to Darien to lecture on When That Great Ship Went Down The Legal and Political Repercussions of the Loss of RMS Titanic, I ended up staying longer than planned, thanks to Hurricane Sandy. One of the things that kept me - well, not sane, but no crazier than usual - was, in addition to my kindly hosts, running across a monograph on an e-reader (which was all the reading there was) that mentioned, in passing, the correspondence between George Washington and his distant cousin, Selina, Countess Dowager of Huntingdon, the "Queen of the Methodists" - and her plan to send missions to the Native Americans (and, more to George's liking, send settlers to the back-country).

After a right smart of months, the result of that passing reference's having sparked my interest is now before y'all: Benevolent Designs The Countess and the General George Washington Selina Countess of Huntingdon their correspondence the evangelizing of America. Piety and power-politics make strange bedfellows, but I like to think they made an interesting tale. You may want to look and see if you agree.