Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud, and Politics in the Ivory Tower

Why do some allegations of scholarly misconduct and error become large media spectacles and result in sanction against the offending writer, while others receive far less attention and punishment? The one-word answer, for Wiener (history, U. of California at Irvine), is power. He examines stories in which leftist writers (or those perceived to be supporting leftist arguments) such as Mike Davis and Michael Bellesiles are dragged over the coals for relatively minor inaccuracies in their respective works Ecology of Fear and Arming America, while far more egregious errors and even outright scholarly fraud in support of power and the conventional wisdom are treated by kid gloves by media representatives and academic institutions. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR