But why bother, in this day and age […] with such a quixotic notion as the truth? Every sobersided history is at least half sleight-of-hand: the right hand waving its poor snippets of fact, out in the open for all to verify, while the left hand busies itself with its own devious agendas, deep in its hidden pockets.

Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride (1993)