FOR ALMOST EVERY REPORTING PROJECT, I make a timeline. It’s usually just a text file with a chronological list of dates and corresponding events. I thicken the chronology as I come across new material, tucking new items between those already in the list. It’s the easiest way, I find, to illuminate the forces that propel people from one chess square in their lives to the next. A move that seems puzzling in isolation can make sense when one discovers what comes right before or after it.
