Some More Noted Things
The other day, I recommended Matt Taibi's"Four Amendments & A Funeral," Rolling Stone, 10 August. Andrew Ackerman reminds me that Taibi did this review of Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. When our politicians behave like that and our pundits think and write that badly, we need a Matt Taibi to call them on it. [Read More below the fold ...]
Robert Birnbaum's interview with Camille Paglia at The Morning News, 3 August, is fascinating reading.
Brian Leiter and Scott McLemee agree that the review by the novelist William Vollman of Curtis Cate's new biography of Friedrich Nietzsche for the New York Times was badly done. At Scott McLemee's"Will to Power," Inside Higher Ed, 18 August, they disagree about the nature of the disaster. Leiter is particularly exercised about Vollman's claim that Aristotle was a major influence on Nietzsche, but the larger issue is whether and how specialists in a subject can engage a larger public audience and whether and how a major public venue, like the New York Times, should encourage reviews that ignore specialization boundaries.
President Bush's job approval ratings continue to sag, according to Rasmussen Reports. They are now the lowest of his presidency. Thanks to Mike and Chris at Outside Report for the tip.
Eighteen months ago, Invisible Adjunct decided to close down her blog. There was, undoubtedly, something magical about her work. It was so palpable that I could guess that someone had warmed at its kindle even if he had not yet told me. She was one of our great teachers and we will remember her.
Finally, I heard from Graham Larkin yesterday. You may recall his guest blog,"Major Research Breakthrough: Left Described for First Time Ever" for us in May. It won him a standing invitation to join us at Cliopatria on a regular basis. He hasn't because life then got real complicated for him. Graham's moved from Stanford to Ottawa, Canada, where he's become Curator of pre-twentieth century art at the National Gallery. So, congratulations are in order and we look forward to the possibility of his joining us when there's time for it.