This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Joyce Wadler, in the NYT (5-12-05):ONE could not call the road sign to Caleb Carr's 1,400-acre property in Rensselaer County welcoming. "Private land," it warns. Then there's the forbidding name of the spread: Misery Mountain Farm. Drive a mile, and you will come to a big stone house so freshly built that it seems to carry a just-born dampness. In places you can still
Steve Plaut, at frontpagemag.com (5-5-05):Marc H. Ellis is university professor and director of the Center for American and Jewish Studies at Baylor University, a Baptist University in Waco, Texas, not ordinarily on anyone's radar map as a particularly n
Graham Larkin, in Inside Higher Ed (4-25-05):It has been heartening to witness the recent runaway success of Princeton emeritus Harry G. Frankfurt’s latest book, On Bullshit. First published as an essay in 1988, Frankfu
Mark Roth, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (4-25-05): Scott Sandage was always fascinated by the row upon row of self-help books at Barnes & Noble and Borders -- so many evangelistic prescriptions for how to become richer, happier, smarter and better-looking. But as a historian and a student of human nature, he wondered: Why aren't there any books on failure? The smug answer might be that nobody would pay money to learn how to fail. Still, there are the
Martin Kramer, at his blog (4-27-05):
Last week, I brought this quote from Columbia University student-abuser Joseph Massad, regarding his book Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan: "The only unfavorable review, out of seventeen favorable reviews, it received was in Martin Kramer’s unscholarly magazine, Middle East Quarterly." So I reproduced that review, which happened to have been wr
Thomas Ryan, at frontpagemag.com (4-27-05):On April 11, Jonathan Bean, a professor of history at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC), received the college’s “Outstanding Teacher Award.” But just two days later, Bean became the scourge of the campus, abandoned by teaching assistants and vilified as a purveyor of “racist propaganda.”
Behind Bea
Paul Buhle, interviewed by Derek Seidman, in Left Hook (4-23-05):
2005 marks the centennial of the founding of the most bold, radical, and egalitarian mass union in US history: the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, also known as the Wobblies). Big Bill Haywood, “The Rebel Girl” Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Joe Hill, Free Speech fights, the Patterson and Lawrence strikes, “Solidarity Forever&rdq
Efraim Karsh, in the New Republic (4-25-05):
[Efraim Karsh is the head of the Mediterranean Studies Programme at King's College, University of London.] Before September 11, 2001, Juan Cole, a history professor at the University of Michigan, enjoyed anonymity outside his professional circle. He was a leading figure in the Middle East Studies Association of North America (mesa), editing for five years its f
Dean Barnett, in the Weekly Standard (4-11-05): [Dean Barnett writes about politics and other matters at soxblog.com under his on-line pseudonym James Frederick Dwight.] DURING HIS BRIEF AND UNHAPPY tenure as the president of Columbia University, Dwight Eisenhower and the faculty did not always enjoy the warmest of relations. At one particularly contentious meeting, a Columbia scholar proudly informed Eisenhower that the university boasted "some of America's most e
Robin Finn, in the NYT (4-8-05): IF intimidation, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, Joseph A. Massad, the Columbia University professor implicated last week by a faculty panel investigating charges of intimidation of students by pro-Palestinian professors, is apparently on his best behavior as he sits on his spotless microsuede sofa a stone's throw from the campus where his classroom conduct has b
Tzvi Kahn, at frontpagemag.com (4-7-05):[Tzvi Kahn is an intern with the Middle East Forum. This was written on behalf of Campus Watch, a project designed to critique and improve Middle East Studies at North American colleges and universities.]My
Thomas Bartlett and Scott Smallwood, in the Chronicle of Higher Ed (4-1-05):
Discovering that someone copied is just the beginning. When a professor is suspected of plagiarizing another scholar's work, the matter usually is assigned to an investigative committee, reports are written, and some sanction may be imposed. Meanwhile, the victim who brought the matter to everyone's attention is often left wondering whether
Daniel Pipes, at front4pagemag.com (3-31-05):Those of us who watch Middle East studies at Columbia University differ as to which professor of that lot is the most egregious. Joseph Massad, with his malign theories and intemperate extremism? Rashid Khalidi, with his roots as a PLO flak, his
Linton Weeks, in the Wash Post (3-31-05):Sniping at Allen Weinstein from ivory towers.
Blasting him in the blogosphere.
Suggesting he could become an accomplice in presidential coverups.
He's been called a stonewaller and a "sloppy" manager. His scholarship has been challenged, his appointment questioned
Juan Cole, at his blog (3-27-05): The Google search has become so popular that prospective couples planning a date will google one another. Mark Levine, a historian at the University of California Irvine, tells the story of how a radio talk show host called him a liar because he referred to an incident that the host could not find on google. That is, if it isn't in google, it didn't happen. (Levine was able to retrieve the incident from Lexis Nexis, a restricted database).
Steve Plaut, at frontpagemag.com (3-29-05): The new head of the Middle East Studies Association, Professor Juan Cole from the University of Michigan, has responded on his own web page to the in-depth expose of his bias I published recently in Frontpage Magazine. In that article, Cole’s long history of distortion, ignorance, and bias was carefully documented. In particular, I challenged the Cole Doctrine, which holds that all terrorism is due to “occupation.”
Oliver August, in the London Times (3-26-05):
A young historian's book on the 1937 atrocity unleashed a tide of repressed anguish and international recriminations that continue even after her suicide
THOSE who knew Iris Chang used to worry about how she could cope with the gloom of her chosen work. But when they visited the house in California that she shared with her husband and saw him playing with their two-year-old son by the swimming pool in the backyard, they were
Steve Plaut, at frontpagemag.com (3-23-05):Since November 2004, University of Michigan professor Juan Cole has served as the "Rais" (the Palestinian term f
James Carroll, in the Boston Globe (3-22-05):
THE DEATH last week of George F. Kennan concentrates the mind. The great American statesman was 101 years old. His longevity was second to his influence, though, and a chorus saluted him as the father of ''containment," the foundational idea of US Cold War thinking. But Kennan always insisted that his famous formulations -- the Long Telegram and the ''Mister X" article -- were misunderstoo
Tim Stoddard, in the B.U. Bridge (3-18-05):Kathryn Bard had “the best Christmas ever” this past December when she discovered the well-preserved timbers and riggings of pharaonic seafaring ships inside two man-made caves on Egypt’s Red Sea coast. They are the first pieces ever recovered from Egyptian seagoing vessels, and along with hieroglyphic inscriptions found near one of
