I have merely revealed the proposition underlying your stated goal of ‘blurring distinctions.’ Your immediate reaction has been scoffing and anger. The question now is, “Why does the truth make you angry?”
It ain’t about me.
I’ve been enjoying my read of Gopnik’s book “Angels and Ages”. He makes Darwin, and his birthday buddy Abraham Lincoln, really come alive with his details.
He speaks of John Brown, Mark Twain, Lincoln, and other contemporaries of the two men on whom he focused. He arranges these characters like pieces on a chessboard, showing the work he went through to research the book, even before the game begins.