I have mixed feelings about Kindle’s “Popular Highlights.”
This feature shows readers how many people have highlighted a particular phrase
or section in a Kindle book. Yet, a cardinal rule of writing is to never jerk
the reader out of the story. A Popular Highlight does exactly that. The reader
stops reading to see what 142 people thought was noteworthy. On the other hand,
it is enlightening for the author to see what made an impression on readers. I
recently revisited Tempest at Dawn as part of my research for Maelstrom
and encountered the Popular Highlights for my novel based on the Constitutional
Convention. Here is a list of those with over 100 highlights.
Popular Highlights from Tempest at Dawn
“Neither nations nor children should be conceived in
public.”
“Faithfulness is not how one lives, but what one aspires
to.”
“Our leaders must see themselves as servants of the people,
not disciplinarians.”
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If
angels were to govern men, no controls on government would be necessary.” James
Madison
“You cannot legislate how people think.”
“I find humans badly constructed. They are more easily
provoked than reconciled, more disposed to do mischief than good, more easily
deceived than undeceived, and more impressed with their own self than
considerate of others.” Ben Franklin
“People hold all political power, and only they can delegate
authority to a government. The people are free to change governments at will.
They don’t need permission from incumbents.”
“We must endure the ignorant to protect the liberty of the
majority.”
“Politics, disguised by a veneer of civility, is played on
the very edge of barbarism.”
“Autocrats slyly build anxiety and fear, and then offer up
government to protect people from these shadowy threats. Each submission erodes
liberty.”
“An outrageous lie, if repeated often enough, and with
fervent indignation, will eventually be accepted as truth.”
Tempest at Dawn
The real story of our nation's founding.
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