(7) Snow Line

At times, the Treaty of Ghent is so wordy that it feels like a maze. We're talking about multiple dependent clauses, a barrage of semi-colons, and a bombardment of looping lists. Yet, there's hope. The text is organized into neat sections, each with only one or two big ideas, and the vocabulary is nothing to panic about. There's also a lot of repetition in the text: Articles Five through Seven essentially restate the main idea of Article Four. Also, if you need to lighten your reading experience, just picture all the ambassadors in frocks, tight pants, and powdered wigs.

And give yourself a piece of cheese for making it through the maze.