I wonder how many 21st century kids reckon that the great man theory is bullshit, but still venerate Steve or Lin or Maury Yeston or whoever NYU and BMI are holding out as idols these days? --- that's for the musicals people. -
Same with films and Spielberg or Lynch (or Linklater). -
That's the point: it really does take influential individuals to make history, but they're shaped by circumstance.
Like, if it wasn't Hobson, it'd be some other dude, but it matters which dude signed the Treaty, despite the comparative lack of interest in Busby from modern Kiwis.
Busby was the British Resident. He drafted the Declaration of Independence.