Historians in Trouble - by Jon Wiener (Paperback)

About the Book

A noted investigative journalist examines the various history scandals of the last few years, focusing on well-publicized cases including the Stephen Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin cases, in which the noted historians were accused of plagiarism.

Book Synopsis

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 Quotes

"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

About the Author

Jon Wiener is a contributing editor to The Nation and is host and producer of "Start Making Sense," The Nation's weekly podcast. An emeritus professor of U.S. history at UC Irvine, he is the author of Gimme Some Truth, Come Together, and, most recently, Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties (with Mike Davis). He lives in Los Angeles.