Craig Fehrman

The Real (Literary) America

4 March 20108 March 2010 by Craig Fehrman, posted in All History is Local History, Books, Features

Over at The Millions, you’ll find my “dispatch from the Borders-land,” where, basically, I ask a bunch of shoppers about their relationship to books. Lit blogs tend to take an isolated view of the literary world, and I wanted to push back against this (and also to satisfy my own curiosity). The week I did the interviews—this was back in December, and the story’s delay stems mostly from my incompetence—the New Yorker debuted another excerpt from DFW’s The Pale King. I remember being extremely excited to read the short story, then noticing that the magazine’s newsstand appendage thingy didn’t even mention Wallace. Different worlds, different priorities—and yet, among the people I talked to, fiction seems alive and well.

One caveat: I wanted this dispatch to be short and I wanted to devote most of it to the interviews, so if it seems like I’m totalizing “real” or “average” readers (or relegating them to scare quotes), that’s why. With more space, I would have liked to talk about the geographic and socioeconomic aspects to reading audiences. For example, Connecticut Goodwills tend to offer some pretty interesting books (in the last year, I’ve picked up an early edition of JFK’s Profiles in Courage and a paperback of William Vollman’s Europe Central). I don’t recall Indiana Goodwills even selling books.

“Alas poore Ghost”

4 March 20104 March 2010 by Craig Fehrman, posted in Dissertation ephemera, Politics

I’m finishing up an essay on political ghostwriting (loosely pegged to Roman Polanski’s new film), and I wanted to share this snippet from the Times:

Perhaps the extreme of ghostliness in speechmaking occurred a few years ago in Congress. One of the large lobbies had sent to various members of the House ‘background material’ and a ‘suggested text’ concerning a bill under debate. At a morning session a Representative got up and read the ‘suggested text’ verbatim, as his own speech. During that afternoon’s session another Representative, who had been absent that morning, got up and delivered the same speech—also as his own—despite other members’ attempts to flag him down.

Of course, “a few years ago” dates from the article’s publication—in March 27, 1949. I’m trying to show in my essay that we’ve assimilated the idea of political ghostwriting. The only question, really, is when this assimilation occurred.

“Secret Handshake to The White House”

23 February 201028 February 2010 by Craig Fehrman, posted in Dissertation ephemera

Late last night, I came across Derek J. Groff’s 2009 dissertation, The Fraternity Factor: Secret Handshake to The White House. Let’s go to the abstract:

At least 60% of America’s 44 presidents were members of secret societies during their ascent to power, a statistic suggesting a phenomenon greater than chance. This study examines that phenomenon, focusing specifically on three groups: Freemasons, Greek-Letter Fraternities, and Yale’s Skull & Bones. It also seeks to identify and analyze the cardinal virtues of secret societies in general, as well as the values of the three groups, in particular. . . . The conclusion suggests that secret societies not only imbue their members with unique values relevant to politics, but that such values have influenced presidential policy, foreign and domestic.

There are histories of everything from presidential physicians to presidential press conferences, so it’s hard to fault the topic. But I can sure fault the trend—and not just as someone who, every April, gets woken up by the crazy Skull & Bones ceremonies that go down in the alley next to my apartment.

Speaking of life experience: the dissertation also promises “the researcher’s own insights as a former Greek-Letter Fraternity president.” If you have access to ProQuest’s Dissertations and Theses database, you can download those insights here.

Correct!

9 February 201014 February 2010 by Craig Fehrman, posted in Dissertation ephemera

How did a perfunctory old story like “Obama’s Back Fund-Raising in New York, Not Quietly” end up with a correction this sublime?

An article on Saturday about fund-raising efforts in New York by Senator Barack Obama misspelled the surname of one of President John F. Kennedy’s closest advisers, who introduced Mr. Obama at a fund-raiser. He is Theodore C. Sorensen, not Sorenson. The error also appeared in an article in The Arts on Feb. 22 about books written by candidates, including “Profiles in Courage,” which then-Senator Kennedy wrote with guidance [!!!] from Mr. Sorensen. (The Times has misspelled Mr. Sorensen’s surname more than 135 [!!!] times in headlines and articles during the 50-plus years he has been a Democratic adviser and well-known author.)

Gregg Easterbrook’s recent Tuesday Morning Quarterback column included a sampling of other great NYT corrections. I remain partial to Sorenso/en, myself.

Did I Inadvertently Predict the Gilbert Arenas Incident?

2 February 201012 February 2010 by Craig Fehrman, posted in Books, Sports

Howard Zinn is dead and Gilbert Arenas is making news for some decidedly right-wing behavior—in other words, my review of Dave Zirin’s A People’s History of Sports (2008) is newly relevant!

Here’s how the review starts:

Last month, Gilbert Arenas, an NBA All-Star, wrote the following on his blog: “Since I’ve been in the NBA I’ve been in the upper class so I’ve been a Republican. If you have any type of money, you’re a Republican, period.”

You can read the rest of it here. (Note: I found it shocking how many people fawned over Zirin’s book; I’ve never felt less guilty about writing a negative review—and for a book I couldn’t wait to read.)