In college, I got my roommate into this. It's a lot of fun. I love history. The historical aspect of it is very interesting.... Truly, anybody who wants to be Scottish, we can find an ancestor who was Scottish.

It's always good for Scots to get together. There will be a toast to the queen and a toast to the president. Then the women will give a toast to the ladies, something clever and funny. And then there is a toast to the lassies. There will be many toasts that evening.

Whether I like it or not, most of my images of what various historical periods feel, smell, or sound like were acquired well before I set foot in any history class. They came from Margaret Mitchell, from Anya Seton, from M.M. Kaye, and a host of other authors, in their crackly plastic library bindings. Whether historians acknowledge it or not, scholarly history’s illegitimate cousin, the historical novel, plays a profound role in shaping widely held conceptions of historical realities.

because he was the former director's roommate.

He plays an all-around game and has fun out there, ... He's going to be a fun player to watch throughout his career.

True, I have raped history, but it has produced some beautiful offspring.