Does the Great Man approach to history still have use?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I'm reminded of (I think) Eric Clapton's response when asked how he felt being one of the greatest guitar players in history. He said something like, 'There thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of better guitarists than me. But you've never heard of them because they didn't get the breaks I did.'

James' notion that genius ideas are unique to the individual credited with them isn't really supportable (eg, Wallace/Darwin, Newton/Leibniz).

Boru