So the latest person on stage at the Hate Tom Woods Club is David Greenberg at Slate, who says that The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History is really “History for Dummies meets John T. Flynn.” But his first substantive point of complaint is that Woods doesn’t cite David Hackett Fischer though Woods’s analysis of British immigration follows Fischer’s thesis. Greenberg says: “Woods does not cite Fischer.” So Tom is stealing other people’s ideas without attribution? Well, let’s see.
Actually, the bibliography cites Fischer (p. 250), which would be enough evidence to counter Greenberg’s claim. Even more, had Greenberg made it past page 2 and gotten to page 3—I know that’s a lot to ask when you are on deadline—he would have found a direct citation to Fischer on religious liberty, right in the heart of his discussion on demographics and the first citation in a popular book in which the editors clearly discouraged footnotes. The rest of his “review” shows no evidence at all that he even read in the book. What a world.
Coda: Tom will be at the Institute this summer, teaching a course from June 20 to 24.
