It's a pity reviewer Laura Shapiro did not investigate why. Olin, for example, was the foundation that backed Dinesh D'Souza's attack on progressive academics, Illiberal Education, and David Brock's scurrilous The Real Anita Hill. It's a testament to the media's failure, or bias, that Sommers' shallow look at this discussion has received more attention than, say, Pleasure and Danger, a compilation on the topic edited by Carole Vance, published a decade ago. O'Hare must not have been trying. Sommers book is filled with errors, from repeatedly calling the National Organization for Women the National Organization of Women, to getting the dates wrong around Super Bowl '93.
Political books deserve more alert critics.
They also need to be placed in a larger context. In fact, Sommers work is of broader relevance. She fails to note the NAS's high-placed supporters. Three of its members, appointed by President George Bush, sit on the board of the National Council on the Humanities. The NCH, which governs the National Endowment for the Humanities, is the federal agency with probably the greatest impact on research and curricula in the liberal arts.