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Archives

2002: Year of the Scandal

by HNN Staff

JANUARY Weekly Standard "Stephen Ambrose, Copycat" Weekly Standard "A Historian and Her Sources" New York Times "Historian Critical of Author Is Also Found to Plagiarize"	FEBRUARY New York Times "SUNY Classics Professor Is Accused of Plagiarism" New York Times "Writer Leaves 'NewsHour' in Furor Over Book" USA TODAY "Purloined Letters"	MARCH Chronicle of Higher Education "History for Sale" Boston Globe "Smeared with Facts, Lauded for Falsehood" New York Times "Historian's Fight for Her Reputation May Be Damaging It" New York Times "Historians Under Fire"
APRIL Emory Wheel "Emory Must Make It Clear that Fraud Won't Be Tolerated" Emory Wheel "E-Mails May Include Lies" New York Times "Pulitzer Prizes and Plagiarism"	MAY Newsweek Magazine "Gunning for a Bad Book." Chronicle of Higher Education "NEH Takes Its Name Off Fellowship for Michael Bellesiles" Los Angeles Times "For Historian Ambrose, It's Time for a 'Love Song'"	JUNE Wall Street Journal "Academic Accountability: An Antigun Scholar Defends His Shoddy Work by Calling Critics Names" Yale Law Review "Fall From Grace: Arming America and the Bellesiles Scandal" Boston Globe "Goodwin Resigns Pulitzer Board Post"
	AUGUST New York Times "MediaTalk: Younger Historians, With Better Hair" Los Angeles Times "As History Repeats Itself, the Scholar Becomes the Story"	SEPTEMBER Boston Globe "Ellis Returns to Classroom Following a Year's Suspension" Emory Wheel "Bellesiles Appeals Independent Panel Ruling"
OCTOBER New York Times "Hamilton President Resigns Over Speech" Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Emory Suspends King Biographer Following Arrest" National Review "Bellesiles Is Out" Boston Globe With Research in Question, Emory Historian Resigns Post New York Times "Stephen Ambrose, Historian Who Fueled New Interest in World War II, Dies at 66"	NOVEMBER New York Sun "Furor heats up at CUNY" Harvard Crimson "Harvard Prof Appeals on Behalf of CUNY Colleague" Weekly Standard "When Professors Attack: They Make Fools of Themselves" HNN "The Historian Who Denounced the Military for 'Baby-Killing'Tactics"	DECEMBER Washington Post "Columbia Rescinds History Prize for Book" Wall Street Journal "The Battle of Brooklyn: A Talented Scholar, a Bitter Tenure Controversy" New York Times "Star Scholar Fights for His Future at Brooklyn College" Chronicle of Higher Education "Saint Xavier U. Suspends Professor for E-Mail Message"

	QUOTE/UNQUOTE
Stephen Ambrose	"If I am writing up a passage and it is a story I want to tell and this story fits and a part of it is from other people's writing, I just type it up that way and put it in a footnote."
Re: Doris Kearns Goodwin	"In January, Ms. Goodwin acknowledged that in 1987 her publisher, Simon & Schuster, paid another author to settle accusations of plagiarism in her book 'The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys.' Then, acting to pre-empt new accusations by Philip Nobile, a journalist, Ms. Goodwin admitted in an interview in February that she had failed to adequately attribute dozens of passages in the book. "
Re: Louis Roberts	"I write to bring to your attention that one of the most honored and well paid professors on campus ... is a gross plagiarist."
Re: Michael Bellesiles	"Dr. Michael Bellesiles has resigned from his position as Professor of History at Emory University, effective December 31, 2002."
Peter Kirstein	"You are a disgrace to this country and I am furious you would even think I would support you and your aggressive baby killing tactics of collateral damage. Help you recruit. Who, top guns to reign death and destruction upon nonwhite peoples throughout the world? Are you serious sir? Resign your commission and serve your country with honour [sic]."

	RESPONSES OF THE PUBLISHERS
Simon & Schuster	Re: Ambrose	"Stephen Ambrose's 'The Wild Blue' is an original and important work of World War II history. All research garnered from previously published material is appropriately footnoted."
Simon & Schuster	Re: Goodwin	"She said that at her request Simon and Schuster is going to destroy the copies of the book [''The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys'] on hand and publish a new corrected edition in the spring. This will cost the publisher about $10,000."
Knopf	Re: Bellesiles	"Knopf said in a statement Friday it regretted 'the circumstances that prompted Columbia University to rescind the Bancroft,' but respected the committee's decision. The paperback edition from Vintage Books, which already includes corrections, will remain in print."