The Invisible Bridge

Rick Perlstein has apparently angered conservative historians enough that they're suing him for plagiarism. The iconoclastic historian has opted for a new technique in endnotes, publishing them on the Internet in order to safe space in the book. The endnotes would have direct links to the sources, making it easier to double check Perlstein. But, this apparently doesn't satisfy Craig Shirley, who has accused Perlstein of lifting chunks of his 2004 book on Reagan's first major bid for the President without giving the author proper attribution.

Perlstein has made a name for himself by going after major conservative political figures like Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon. In his latest book, he charts "The Invisible Bridge" between Nixon and Reagan, which apparently is none too flattering to the latter. I don't think very many persons care about the former, except maybe Pat Buchanan. All though, Nixon hasn't had this much attention paid him since Watergate.

Perlstein's style has also come under fire, as he is less a biographer than a cultural historian. I greatly enjoyed Nixonland, which as the title suggests focused as much or more on the political climate surrounding Nixon as the man himself. Frank Rich offers a review in the spirit of the book, noting that the title comes from some cynical advise Nikita Khrushchev gave Nixon,

"If the people believe there's an imaginary river out there, you don't tell them there's no river there. You build an imaginary bridge over the imaginary river."

That seems to sum up the conservative movement rather well.

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

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Whoever it was in 1969 who named the very first Bob Dylan bootleg album “Great White Wonder” may have had a mischievous streak. There are any number of ways you can interpret the title — most boringly, the cover was blank, like the Beatles’ “White Album” — but I like to see a sly allusion to “Moby-Dick.” In the seven years since the release of his first commercial record, Dylan had become the white whale of 20th-century popular song, a wild, unconquerable and often baffling force of musical nature who drove fans and critics Ahab-mad in their efforts to spear him, lash him to the hull and render him merely comprehensible. --- Bruce Handy, NYTimes ____________________________________________ I figured we can start fresh with Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist this photo of him striking a Woody Guthrie pose. Looks like only yesterday. Here is a link to the comments building up to this reading group.

Team of Rivals Reading Group

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Dispatches from Vilnius

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