PrintOctober 19, 2009
Dreams authorship questions mounting
Thomas Lipscomb, the founder of Times Books -- publisher of Dreams from my Father, has particular credibility when it comes to examining the dispute over the book's authorship. In an important and thorough examination of the evidence to date on Pajamas media, he concludes:
The case is still open on Ayers and any responsible news organization should press on.
As a publishing industry authority, he is using his status to ask difficult questions, comparing the way James Frey's notorious literary fraud was handled -- at a cost of millions the publisher sent out inserts for existing buyers and refunded the purchase price to those who felt defrauded.
I have called Markus Dohle, the CEO of Random House, and Stuart Applebaum, the wily director of Communications at Random House who helped weather the Frey fray so well. Do they have a lower standard for an American president who may be defrauding them and their American and international readers than for a James Frey? Are they looking into this?We will soon see. I am waiting to hear.
He also looks closely at Bill Ayers' two public statements averring (supposedly in jest) his authorship. His dissection of the journalistic commentary on the statements is sophisticated and compelling.
This is an important essay in the further development of the biggest literary scandal in history.
Also notable today is a column from the brilliant writer Spengler in Asia Times, which in passing mentions:
It now seems well established that his autobiography Dreams of My Father was ghost-written by the former Weatherman Bill Ayers, now a professor of education in Chicago. Long rumored, this allegation is confirmed by celebrity journalist Christopher Anderson in his new book, Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage. Jack Cashill at the American Thinker has been on this trail for a year, comparing Ayers' attributed writing to Dreams, and in my view made a strong case even before Anderson's book appeared. Ayers never repudiated the bombs he planted in public buildings during the 1960s.
Ridicule is the current strategy to obscure the strong evidence that the president lied about writing his own autobiographical book. But the questions will not go away as long as serious people like Jack Cashill, Spengler and Tom Lipscomb have the courage to speak truth to power. Barack Obama supplies daily confirmation that he cannot live up to the image manufactured for him.
Hat tip: Ed Lasky
Hat tip: Ed Lasky
