One of my criticisms of the "law and economics" literature that has purported to find and tell the story of the genesis of municipal bankruptcy law (in my new article, "The Historiographical Problem of Municipal Bankruptcy Law" on SSRN at papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5253527) is that its authors have performed no appreciable research in deep, archival sources.
Today I read a piece in Lapham's Quarterly that reinforces my point:
"It’s been said that . . . within the first six years of life, the human mind replicates the dream of its five-thousand-year journey from the sand castle cities of ancient Mesopotamia. The figures in the dream have left the signs of their passing in what we know as the historical record, navigational lights flashing across the gulf of time on scraps of papyrus and scratchings in stone, on ships’ logs and bronze coins, as epic poems and totem poles and painted ceilings, in confessions voluntary and coerced, in five-act plays and three-part songs."
Lewis H. Lapham, "The Gulf of Time: An Introduction to Lapham’s Quarterly," at www.laphamsquarterly.org/states-war/gulf-time (emphasis added).