Still More Noted

by Cliopatria

Umberto Eco,"Outlandish Theories: Kings of the (hollow) World," International Herald Tribune, 21 July, reviews Paul Collins, Banvard's Folly: Tales of Renowned Obscurity, Famous Anonymity, and Rotten Luck.

Christopher Hitchens,"Scorched Earth -- Was the destruction of German cities justified?" Weekly Standard, 31 July, reviews A. C. Grayling, Among the Dead Cities: The History and Moral Legacy of the World War II Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan.

David Greenberg,"Class Warfare: Why the Villain of The History Boys is the Better Teacher," Slate, 24 July, argues that the playwright's criticism of Niall Ferguson-like historians is mistaken.

At Postive Liberty, Jason Kuznicki has a thoughtful series,"Critical Distance," on academic history:"On Theory,""Not This, Not That," and"The Dismal Science."

Finally, historian/U.S. Senate candidate Allan Lichtman puts in an embarrassing appearance at Wonkette.

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Alan Allport - 7/26/2006

He never gets to the cliff in the first place.

"At one point, it is true, Albert Speer reported to his Führer that the industrial capacity of the Third Reich could not take any more saturation bombing. But he regained his nerve, and his giant enterprise of slave labor and state capitalism continued to perform astonishingly well until the very end. The things that really "shortened" the war were "pinpoint" attacks on Hitler's fuel lines, and the remorseless advance of the Red Army after the titanic battle at Kursk."

Leaving aside the plodding monocausality of the final sentence ("real" causes happily existing context-free, it seems), what on Earth does "astonishingly well" mean? Astonishingly well compared to what? Would a Hitlerian economy sans bombing have performed super-astonishingly well - well enough to, erm, win the war, for instance? The facile shallowness of the argument is its one constant.

Rob MacDougall - 7/26/2006

"Banvard's Folly" has been out for a few years now, so I'm not sure why Eco is reviewing it now. But I'm not complaining - it's a terrific book.

Jonathan Dresner - 7/26/2006

Was it just me, or did Hitchens go off a cliff right at the end?