Kinda Like Howard in Melvin & Howard

T. C. Boyle sits down with Robert Birnbaum and explains the narrative function of Alfred Kinsey in his latest novel, The Inner Circle:

"Whenever you use a historical character in a work of fiction, that character becomes yours. I have learned as much as I could about him. Not having known him myself, personally, through his biographers primarily and I want to assess what I have learned. I want to make him walk and talk and deliver speeches. But as with Dr. Kellogg, in The Road to Wellville, I don’t want this character to be central. I want this character to put in motion what will happen to invented subsidiary characters..."

But, he's careful to note, "I am not a biographer. I am not writing history. I enjoy history because it enables me to reflect on who we are, how we got there and what it means."