[Possum]

Hehe, 1920's attitudes toward race. Have you ever read Huckleberry Finn?

You know, that is actually a two-edged sword. On the one hand, when reading old authors their racist attitudes sometimes grate on our modern sensibilities. On the other hand, because they were so utterly indifferent to modern sensibilities, older authors were free to make observations that no modern author would dare.

As a case in point, back in the late 80's, I was doing some serious research on the punic wars. One of the best authors on the subject did his work in the 1930's. As part of his introduction to the subject of the punic wars, the author did some exploration of the ethnic origins of the carthaginians, tracing them back to the "proto-semitic" ethnic group which also gave rise to the ancient hebrews (and many of their most bitter enemies). Some of his observations would simply not have been comfortable to modern academia, lest they be misconstrued as anti-semitic.

A fifth player, you say?

/me rubs hands together and cackles in evil laughter