I don't know about his earliest work, but his agenda was certainly clear in "The Bell Curve" time frame. From what I remember (vaguely) when his current effort came out, he himself sort of said he was just trying to retread the Bell Curve without race, so he couldn't be criticized on that angle. No matter, I think it's time people move on from race to the broader issues of class, in light of the class war the GOP has been waging vigorously for the last 30 years, all the while whining about how the other side was at fault.
Again, I felt under a certain obligation to respond, given I brought the dreaded Murray up in the first place. I hadn't read Frum at the time, only found that review because Krugman noted it in a little blog post at the time. The NYT had a few pointed articles, but it was hard to tie them together. I was hoping the Book Review would have a good piece from somebody in the field, but it was delegated to a reporter who was pretty polite. Me, I had to correct a Freudian slip above, I originally typed Bell Jar instead of Bell Curve, maybe subconsciously wishing Murray would stick his head in an oven I fear.
I'm sure Murray cleaned up on book royalties via the usual conservative bulk purchase channel, though. Lots of unread copies lying around amongst the true believers, I imagine. |
