Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Now This is What I'm Talking About   

Michael Ledeen, who knows more about fascism than all of my reviewers, positive and negative, combined has a fascinating critique of my book over at Pajamas Media. Ledeen is a friend, of course, and it was a talk he gave at AEI more than a decade ago that partially inspired me to write this book (or at least to explore the issues in it). 

Anyway, he's got some very strong disagreements with my argument(s). I've only read the review super quick and I can already spot all sorts of yeasty topics for disagreement and discussion. It's too serious a review, based on too much of knowledge of the subject, for me to respond now (hint, my first impression is that I think Michael's too close to the subject). This is something I'll have to reread and noodle for a while. But this is exactly the sort of thing I have in mind when I say I wish the Times or the Journal had offered tougher critiques if in exchange they actually dealt with the themes of the book. A serious review is a high compliment and I'm grateful for it, whatever our disagreements.

01/16 04:36 PMShare