A singular emphasis on the acts and thoughts of lone individuals, in assessing a sweep of human affairs that was also driven by economic and political forces, among others, was undoubtedly misplaced. Many may also be unable to look past the reference to men at the exclusion of women. But why are we incapable of disavowing the sexism and parochial sentiment without jettisoning any sense of the heroic as well? Our shift away, as a culture, from this type of thinking, from veneration of leaders, is both a symptom and a cause of our current condition. We have grown weary and skeptical of
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