More Noted Things

At Princeton, another ‘oppressed minority'fabricates another assault. The African American alleged victim in the Duke lacrosse case, the Jewish student at George Washington, and the conservative student at Princeton discredit themselves and their allies and make life more difficult for real victims in real assaults. In Annie Karni,"Report of Attack Rattles Princeton," NY Sun, 17 December, conservatives like David Horowitz and Harvey Mansfield rushed to judgment in the Princeton case, as Duke's 88 and I rushed to judgment in the Duke case. Look for Horowitz to repent as fast as the 88 have. Which is to say: Hold your breath until then and you die. Josh Marshall draws the direct comparison between the Duke and the Princeton cases. It's clearly in Princeton's favor that this hoax was exposed quickly; and to Duke's shame that its hoax dragged on for a year or more, aided and abetted by reasonably intelligent people.

Margaret Reynolds,"Women Aloud," Guardian, 15 December, reviews Rebecca Jennings's A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Women Since 1500.

Michael Dirda,"An electrifying history of a time as full of ferment as the 1960s," Washington Post, 16 December, reviews Philip Gura's American Transcendentalism: A History.

Scott Horton,"Washington Irving's Legend of the Arabian Astrologer," Harpers, 14 December, resurrects Irving's reputation with a challenge to Edward Said's reading of him. Thanks to Manan Ahmed for the tip.

H-Diplo features a roundtable on John Mearsheimer's and Stephen Walt's The Israel Lobby and U. S. Foreign Policy, with major contributions from Christopher L. Ball, Andrew Preston of Cambridge, David Schoenbaum of Iowa, and Tony Smith of Tufts.

Kenneth Anderson,"Mormons, Muslims, and Multiculturalism," Weekly Standard, 24 December. There's something in this powerful essay to offend most of us, which in this case means it has something to teach each of us.