Reading Gordon S. Wood’s Revolutionary Characters.  Penetrating history/biography of what set the Founding Fathers apart: their incomparable brilliance, and their human qualities.  For instance, I never knew that Washington wasn’t considered an intellectual by his peers; that Franklin died a relatively unpopular man in the US (although not in France); that Adams’ critical nature caused him to be ostracized by the others; and that all the Yanks regarded Paine as common, regardless of the brilliance of Common Sense.  Sure McCullough touched on some of this in his book, but not in the same way.

What does this have to do with art?  Indirectly, everything.