These lessons were eventually the basis of his book on the
subject (now a Dover paperback) and well received by most
of his students. Needless to say, it also invited closer
scrutiny of his activities by the administration and the FBI
(America's internal security police) during the 1950s, but
that's another story.
The point is that for a productive discussion of the history
of the mathematics, one has to be a master of both
aspects of the matter - the mathematics as well as its
history. Then by striking a proper balance of the subject,
one can judge what is appropriate for his or her class.
Of course Prof. Struik is a model historian as well as a
mathematician. I suspect that most of us are either,
though striving to be both.
Al Barron
Metuchen, NJ