And a very fine review it is. The odious Eric Alterman, however,
denounced it on his blog <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11619777/> as
"simultaneously smarmy, dishonest, Stalinist, and sectarian in a
fashion that dishonors everyone involved with it." ("Stalinist" is a
pretty funny epithet for an old Trot like Dan.) Alterman denounced
the magazine's literary editor, Adam Shatz (who's greatly improved
the back of the book, by the way, in part by publishing so much
Lazare) for running the review; he's held a grudge against Shatz for
years because Shatz once panned a book on Vietnam by the
almost-as-odious Paul Berman. Oh, and Shatz had the nerve to run a
review by Mike Davis that "referred to the honest, honorable, liberal
anti-Communists Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Daniel Bell as 'hungry
sharks' and 'hellhounds of the Cold War' because they, not the
Nation, were right about Stalin." Truly hacks like Alterman can't
live without Stalin, who's been dead almost as long as I've been
alive.
Doug
I do believe that the Nation Magazine has been improving since I haven't
had cause to write a screed in well over six months I believe. I also had
recourse to pass on Christian Parenti's fine dispatch from New Orleans,
even though I have been critical of him in the past (but not within the
last couple of years I believe.) It might be time for me to resub since the
proquest archives at Columbia do not seem to be functioning. I have a
powerful addiction to cryptic crossword puzzles and the Nation's are
excellent.
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