Andrew Scull,"The Fictions of Foucault's Scholarship," TLS, 21 March, reviews a new [and, now, complete] English translation of Michael Foucault's History of Madness.* Scully claims that Foucault used long out-dated sources and data-mined them. One of the book's lessons, says Scully, is"the ease with which history can be distorted, facts ignored, the claims of human reason disparaged and dismissed, by someone sufficiently cynical and shameless, and willing to trust in the ignorance and the credulity of his customers." But, see also: Richard Prouty,"Madness, History, and Foucault," One-Way Street, 23 March. Thanks to Mark Bauerlein for the tip.
*The abbreviated, 1965 English translation of Foucault's work appeared as Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason.

Umberto Eco,"Temples for the Tourists," IHT, 2 April, traces the arc from aristocratic to bourgeois to mass tourism and argues that faux-temples for the masses may be the salvation of genuine antiquities. See also: Tim Burke,"Venice in Vegas," Cliopatria, 6 January 2004; and Luker,"American Fakery ...," Cliopatria, 7 January 2004. Thanks to Nathanael Robinson for the tip.

OAH President Richard White comes too late for Cliopatria's symposium on Sam Tanenhaus's"History, Written in the Present Tense," NY Times, 4 March. Yet, White's presidential address responds directly to Tanenhaus's concerns: Part I, Part II, Parts III and IV.

Cliopatria's note yesterday about the contested tenure decision about Norman Finkelstein at DePaul reverberated in several directions. John K. Wilson's College Freedom, 1 April, had inaccurately reported that there were rumors that Finkelstein would be denied tenure. That's one way to get such rumors started and, sure enough, the Chronicle of Higher Education's News Blog, 2 April, picked up and passed on the rumor. The decision is in process and DePaul is grappling with diverse opinions in the matter. Spreading rumors of a negative decision could prejudice the decision, itself. That's unfair both to Finkelstein and to DePaul.

Already, however, two questions occur to me about the process. First, to what extent, if any, and how has Harvard Law's Alan Dershowitz tried to intervene in DePaul's decision-making? If you think that question is not self-evident, have a look at Dershowitz's website, where Finkelstein's name is quite prominently featured and keep in mind that Dershowitz took his fight to pressure the University of California Press not to publish Finkelstein's last book all the way to Governor Schwarzenegger's office. The other question that occurs to me is: how did Peter Kirstein come to have documents that are internal to DePaul's tenure review process? He quotes extensively from Dean Charles Sucher's negative recommendation in Finkelstein's case, but specifically claims:"I have had no contact directly or indirectly with any of the principals involved concerning this issue. No one at DePaul who has participated in this case has supplied me with any materials or documentation." For more on the subject, see: Scott Jaschik,"Furor over Norm Finkelstein," Inside Higher Ed, 3 April.

Finally, the range of my colleagues' talents amazes me. Jonathan Reynolds, for instance, has a band,"46 long", and it's just recorded a commercial for Gold Star Chili. Hold your purist complaints about serving chili with spaghetti. That's how it's done in the Ohio Valley. When mom weaned me from the milk bottle, she put a bowl of spaghetti and chili in front of me.