Allan Eckert's brand of history takes some getting used to. It reads very like fiction, but is actually fact dressed up in the style of a novel. There's an intimacy in the effort which is often lacking in today's historical writing. Yet the approach poses problems.

For example, he leans heavily on dialogue to tell his story, making ample use of whatever historical conversation remains in archives but also adopting the practice of what he terms "hidden dialogue"—putting quotation marks around material not initially recorded as dialogue but reported as having been said or heard or thought after an event.

It is a practice that historians frown upon. Mr. Eckert defends it on the grounds that it helps "provide continuity" and maintains "a high degree of reader interest." He adds the assurance, nevertheless, that "in no case has this been at the expense of historical accuracy."

So...