"What a difference a century makes. Eggleston [Stories of Great Americans], relying upon the notion that 'a beginner's book ought before all things be interesting,' told an appealing story, more bitter than sweet, and certainly richer than its meagre modern update. What is most striking, however, about this version of events is its freedom from interpretive cant. This is not necessarily what one would expect. After all, one of the crucial victories won by the revisionists is the notion that there exists in all texts of earlier eras egregious examples of racial denigration in drastic need of balance--even "correction." One may, therefore, open Eggleston's century-old text and expect to find a hagiographic celebration of the good, a whitewash of the bad, and plenty of ugly regarding the description of native peoples encountered in the settlement of this country. But one does not find this. It is not there." from "Old Books for Today's Kids," an article by Diana West