Quote: page 579 V. Objectivity in Family History The coll, detached presentation of facts may itself be biased because of its failure to be sensitive to important realities. James B. Allen made an excellent statement that illustrates the point: Genuine objectivity recognizes that truth can be distorted by a mere presentation of a multitude of facts. The documents you have, for example, may well reveal an embarrassing incident in an individuals life -- but does objectivity demand that you tell it? Was the incident such a minor variation in the persons total life that merely telling it gives undue emphasis to it, and leaves a misleading impression of his character? Will it really make any difference if some such stories are left out? Or, if your integrity demands that you deal with it, are you capable of putting it into words that will not distort the reader's view of your subject's over-all personality, or otherwise leave a wrong impression? If not, should you be writing this person's history at all? The biographers task then is complicated when it comes to keeping problems in their proper perspective as he deals with them.