Synopses & Reviews
Available for the first time in paperback after being widely reviewed and discussed upon its hardcover publication, Historians in Trouble is investigative journalist and historian Jon Wiener’s “incisive and entertaining” (New Statesman) account of several of the most notorious history scandals of the last few years.
Focusing on a dozen key controversies ranging across the political spectrum and representing a wide array of charges, Wiener seeks to understand why some cases make the headlines and end careers, while others do not. He looks at the well publicized cases of Michael Bellesiles, the historian of gun culture accused of research fraud; accused plagiarists and “celebrity historians” Stephen Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin; Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph J. Ellis, who lied in his classroom at Mount Holyoke about having fought in Vietnam; and the allegations of misconduct by Harvard’s Stephan Thernstrom and Emory’s Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, who nevertheless were appointed by George W. Bush to the National Council on the Humanities.
As the Bancroft Prize–winning historian Linda Gordon wrote in Dissent, Wiener’s “very readable book . . . reveal[s] not only scholarly misdeeds but also recent increases in threats to free debate and intellectual integrity.”
Review
"Wiener covers the modern university as if it were a police beat." —John Leonard,
Harper's"[Wiener’s] argument . . . is persuasively mounted." —Financial Times
"Make[s] the case clearly and forcefully that historians’ violations of common standards of ethics are not to be taken lightly." —Los Angeles Times
"As readable as any political thriller." —Library Journal
"Intrigues and educates . . . Wiener has a journalist’s knack for boiling complex cases into digestible bits." —The Seattle Times
Synopsis
Historians have been in the news recently, and the news has not been good-accusations of plagiarism, research fraud, and classroom misconduct have made headlines, brought protracted investigations, and, in some cases, landed big names in the courtroom. In Historians in Trouble, investigative journalist and historian Jon Wiener examines the various history scandals of the last few years, arguing that media spectacles end careers only when powerful groups outside the profession demand punishment-and that such campaigns typically come from the right rather than the left. Focusing on a dozen key controversies ranging across the political spectrum and representing a wide variety of charges, Wiener looks at the well-publicized cases of Michael Bellesiles, the historian of gun culture accused of research fraud; accused plagiarists Stephen Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin; Joseph Ellis, who lied in his classroom at Mount Holyoke about having fought in Vietnam; and the allegations of misconduct by Harvard's Stephan Thernstrom and Emory's Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, who nevertheless were appointed to the National Council on the Humanities by George W. Bush.
About the Author
Jon Wiener is a professor of history at the University of California at Irvine and a contributing editor to
The Nation. The author of several books, including
Gimme Some Truth,
Come Together, and
Professors, Politics, and Pop, he lives in Los Angeles.