HNN Poll: Should Knopf Withdraw Arming America?
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NOTE: On the afternoon of Friday December 20, the software used to measure the number of readers responding to our poll jumped in the course of a few hours from fewer than 500 to over 1,800. The overwhelming number of votes cast during this brief period were"no." Between Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon, in yet another sudden shift, thousands of"yes" votes were cast. The sharp increase in"no" votes on Friday afternoon and"yes" votes afterwards casts doubt on the poll's reliability as a measure of reader response. What is to be done with Michael Bellesiles's Arming America? Two months ago Emory University's outside panel of historians concluded that Bellesiles was guilty of"egregious misrepresentation" and"unprofessional and misleading work." In sum the committee found that"his scholarly integrity is seriously in question." Last week Columbia University's Board of Trustees, in an unprecedented move, withdrew the Bancroft Prize that had been awarded to Bellesiles's book. Following the university's move Knopf, which published the book, released a statement indicating that the paperback edition of Arming America would remain in print, saying it"already contains corrections." WHAT DO YOU THINK? | |
If Knopf continues to stand"behind" Arming America and fails to confront the fact that it is not simply a slightly flawed book that can be tinkered with and fixed with a few" corrections" here and there but it is rather a deeply dishonest book, one that is racked by invented, falsified, and grossly distorted renderings of the historical record, then Knopf will be doing itself and its great publishing tradition a monumental disservice. More importantly, however, by keeping Arming America in print and not recalling it Knopf will be doing an even greater disservice to the reading public. It will be saying to those who care about history that even America's leading publisher is more concerned with profits than integrity, and is more interested in selling deceitful, though politically correct books than works of enduring merit. The editors at Knopf need to rethink their position, just as Emory University and Columbia University reconsidered their positions. And they need to do so quickly. They should cease printing the Vintage paperback of Arming America and recall all remaining copies from the bookstores. They can do no less and live up to the example of the firm's founder who, though he valued loyalty to his authors, valued scholarly integrity and intellectual honesty even more. |
Note: This is an unscientific poll.