Just as historians like Iris have worked to investigate and clarify incidents obscured by the so-called fog of war, I’ve tried to figure out what really happened through the also-greatly-distorting fog of mental illness and family secrets.  That has involved studying not only external events, but the mysteries of one person’s powerful inner life, an inner life strong enough to create an explosive work of history, and also to unleash the most unforgiving type of fury and violence upon one’s self.