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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TigerPaw who wrote (311755)	10/29/2002 10:20:52 AM
From: H-Man	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Unfortunatley for your theory, it was the professors of Princeton and Harvard that brought him down. If he had not lied, there would be no case against him. Then again, he could not have written the book in the first place. He had a political agenda and wrote a work of fiction under the guise of scholarship. A complete fraud. Nothing less.

To: TigerPaw who wrote (311755)	12/24/2002 4:36:06 PM
From: Zoltan!	Respond to of 769670

>>Believing the book undermined the historical intent of the Second Amendment, the nra and other advocacy groups posted web sites accusing Bellesiles of scholarly fraud and “promoting statist public policies that reveal the class hatred felt by many intellectuals for a broad section of the American people” Message 18164625 Moronica. Post this at your Jackass Inn: Columbia Rescinds History Prize for Book Fri Dec 13, 4:59 PM ET By HILLEL ITALIE, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK - Severe doubts about a book on guns in the United States has led Columbia University to rescind the prestigious Bancroft Prize for history. "Arming America," by Michael Bellesiles, had received the award in 2001. In a statement released Friday, Columbia said that the school's trustees had concluded "his book had not and does not meet the standards ... established for the Bancroft Prize." Columbia has asked Bellesiles to return the prize money, $4,000. It was the first time in the 54-year history of the Bancroft award that Columbia has taken such actions. Phone and e-mail messages left by The Associated Press with Bellesiles were not immediately returned. Bellesiles resigned in October as a professor at Emory University, after an independent panel of scholars strongly criticized his research. In May, the National Endowment for the Humanities withdrew its name — although not its funding — from a fellowship given to Bellesiles. (pronounced Bell-EEL). Bellesiles has acknowledged some errors, but defends his book as fundamentally sound. "I have never fabricated evidence of any kind nor knowingly evaded my responsibilities as a scholar," he said after announcing his resignation. The historian spent 10 years working on "Arming America," published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2000. The book challenges the idea that the United States has always been a gun-oriented culture and that well-armed militias were essential to the Revolutionary War. Relying on numerous sources, Bellesiles writes that only a small percentage of people possessed firearms in colonial times and that militias were mostly ineffective. Only after the Civil War, he contends, did guns become vital. "Arming America" was praised in both The New York Times and The New York Review of Books and won the Bancroft Prize, presented to works of "exceptional merit and distinction in the fields of American history and biography." Many cited it as a devastating statement against America's alleged historical love affair with firearms. Gun advocates quickly attacked the book, with National Rifle Association president, actor Charlton Heston (news), complaining that Bellesiles had "too much time on his hands." But scholars and critics also became skeptical. In October, Emory released a 40-page study that concluded Bellesiles was "guilty of unprofessional and misleading work." The report, written by scholars from Harvard and Princeton universities and the University of Chicago, said Bellesiles' failure to cite sources for crucial data "does move into the realm of 'falsification.'" It also suggested he omitted other researchers' data that contradicted his arguments. "The Bancroft judges operate on a basis of trust," said Eric Foner, a past winner and a history professor at Columbia who has served as a prize judge, although not in 2001. "We assume a book published by a reputable press has gone through a process where people have checked the facts. Members of prize committees cannot be responsible for that." Knopf said in a statement Friday it regretted "the circumstances that prompted Columbia University to rescind the Bancroft," but respected the committee's decision. The paperback edition from Vintage Books, which already includes corrections, will remain in print. Columbia said Friday that trustees concurred with the scholars commissioned by Emory and found that Bellesiles had "violated basic norms of acceptable scholarly conduct." NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam praised Columbia's decision as "appropriate." ... story.news.yahoo.com