literature is the immortal part of history

1. What historical figure do you admire? Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari. He died before a firing squad for doing what he knew was right.
2. What historical landmarks have you enjoyed visiting? I'm not one for educational vacations, but I did like the exhibits at The Wolfsonian in Miami Beach. I would love to go there again.
3. What era in history intrigues you most? mid-century Europe, 1920s-1940s
4. What era in history do you find upsetting? every era is upsetting in its own way. Humans have never acquired the knack for rubbing along well together. If there's ever been a time when the whole world's been without war, I cannot think of it. And anyway, there's always social injustice and economic imbalance and political oppression and food scarcity and natural disaster and religious persecution.... We'all suck.
5. What teacher made history most interesting for you? that's easy. My college mentor, who is still teaching lo these many years later, is my hero. He is absolutely the person after whom I've tried to model my intellectual life. He is brilliant, forthright in the extreme, clever, impassioned, and a complete darling. He didn't just make history interesting--he made me a better person, and made me want to be more than I ever thought I could be.
   
   And it worked. So much that I am is about him. Love!

[from The Cat, who got it here; the title quotation is by Billy Phelps, and reads in its entirety:
"Books are of the people, by the people, for the people. Literature is the immortal part of history; it is the best and most enduring part of personality."]