Real history lacks tidy dramatic arcs and tidy causation.

Evidence

History is always stranger than we imagine or can imagine. It’s never black/white, it’s never either/or, it’s never “if a, therefore b.” The chains of causation snap when you breathe on them. Some iron assumptions are cobweb-thin. History is never tidy or shapely. It doesn’t have a dramatic arc. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1173

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Name redaction prevents the understanding of historical events. — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 920; Historical events become communicable only by being turned into stories.; Historical events only reach audiences after being transformed into narrative form (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Historical conjunctures are overdetermined accumulations of heterogeneous contradictions #corroborates (0.80)
• Emphasis on dramatic reversals obscures muted archival disruptions #qualifies (0.75)