In related news, does anyone remember that Green Lantern once dueled Aaron Burr? It was back in 1974-75, in a two-part story running in the back of issues 230 and 231 of that era’s Flash series.
Despite what the premise might imply, the portrayal of Burr is quite sympathetic – probably reflecting the influence of Gore Vidal’s 1973 novel.
Prof. Long.
I was going to ask what you thought of the novel Burr in particular and Vidal’s historical series in general. I’ve only read Burr, but I especially enjoyed its amusing portrayal of Jefferson as a decadent and tyrannical hypocrite.
Cheers,
Bob
I thought Vidal’s American historical series was pretty good. But I should add a caveat: I noticed lots of historical errors in his Greek/Roman historical novels, so it’s possible that I would have noticed similar errors in the American novels if I had more expertise in American history.
I can’t really work up much enthusiasm for any approach to the Hamilton-Jefferson-Burr trio that treats any member of that trio as either purely a shining saint or purely a slimy villain; all three of them were way too complicated for that. All three of them not only espoused libertarian-sounding principles but actually made important contributions to real-life liberty; yet all three of them in other respects betrayed those libertarian-sounding principles pretty thoroughly and awfully.