Anti Bellesiles operation got me to thinking.......

[hillbilly]

I work at a small college.

As a reserach assignment, and to reinforce the value of always double-checking sources, I always have my students find out what prize Dr. Michael Bellesiles had to give back and which university forced him to resign because of his fraudulent book "Arming America."

Recently, one of my students brought it to my attention that Bellesile's book was actually on the shelves of our college's library.

So, I used Lexis-Nexis to come up with two Associated Press stories....one about Bellesiles being forced to resign and give up his Bancroft Prize, and another story about "Arming America" being dropped by the publisher because the book proved fraudulent.

I took both those stories, and our college's copy of "Arming America" to the front desk of our library, showed and explained the two stories, and explained about the book being fraudulent, and suggested they might want to take another look at the book being on a college library's shelves.

I was polite, as was the person who heard me out said she would take the book and the articles to the head librarian.

I plan to follow up next week, and see if the book is still there. If so, I will continue to approach other folks in the library with copies of the same two AP stories.

But my little anti-Bellesiles operation got me to looking and thinking.

Here is a list of all the books sitting around Bellesile's book on the shelf of our library:

?Armed and considered dangerous : a survey of felons and their firearms / James D. Wright, Peter H. Rossi.; Nonfiction - 1st East c1986 363.33 W933 Un 1983 ?

Under the gun : weapons, crime, and violence in America / James D. Wright, Peter H. Rossi, Kathleen Daly with the assistance of Eleanor Weber-Burdin.; Nonfiction - 1st East c1983 363.33060 D283 U 1993 ?

Under fire : the NRA and the battle for gun control / Osha Gray Davidson.; Nonfiction - 1st East 1993 363.330973 B4165aa 2000 ?

Arming America : the origins of a national gun culture / Michael A. Bellesiles.; Nonfiction - 1st East 2000 363.330973 G954 C 2003 ?

Gun control : opposing viewpoints / Helen Cothran, book editor.; Nonfiction - 1st East c2003 363.330973 G9573a 1999 ?

Guns in America : a reader / edited by Jan E. Dizard, Robert Merrill Muth, and Stephen P. Andrews.; Nonfiction - 1st East c1999 363.330973 K945 G 1995 ?

Gun control : a reference handbook / Earl R. Kruschke.; Nonfiction - 1st East c1995 363.330973 Netlibrary ?

The politics of gun control [NetLibrary electronic book] / Robert J. Spitzer. netLibrary books c1998 Women & guns [NetLibrary electronic book] : politics and the culture of firearms in America / Debora netLibrary books c2002 363.330973 Su32 Eh 2001

?Every handgun is aimed at you : the case for banning handguns / Josh Sugarmann.; Nonfiction - 1st East 2001 363.33097303 Ut8 Egc 2000 ?

Encyclopedia of gun control and gun rights / Glenn H. Utter.; Reference - 2nd East 2000 363.337303 G9573as 2002 ?

Guns in American society : an encyclopedia of history, politics, culture, and the law / edited by Gregg Lee Carter.; Reference - 2nd East c2002 363.33973 B8145o 2003 ?

Outgunned : up against the NRA : the first complete insider account of the battle over gun control / Peter Harry Brown, Daniel G. Abel.; Nonfiction - 1st East


Besides alerting the library to Bellesile's fraud, I realized that most of the books on the subject in our library were rabidly anti-gun.

And I wanted to change that.

Here's what I need.

1) A list of titles to give to the library to expand that particular section in the stacks.

2) Donated hardbacked copies of some of those titles, or cash donations so I can purchase hardbacked copies to give to the library myself.

I'm willing to throw $20 of my own at this.

Anyone else interested?

I want to be able to go the library with hardbacked books in hand.

If I just submit a list for them to purchase, chances are the titles won't get purchased.

But hardbacked books are almost impossible to turn down.

What do y'all think......any takers?

Email me and let me know.

hillbilly

 

[captain obvious]

More Guns, Less Crime - John Lott
The Bias Against Guns - John Lott
Targeting Guns: Firearms and their Control - Gary Kleck

sure there's lots more....

 

[AZRickD]

"Armed and Considered Dangerous" by Wright and Rossi is on my bookshelf as well. One portion of it shows that felons are very wary of citizens who own guns and change their behavior accordingly.

W & R were given a grant by the Carter Administration to see which gun control laws reduced crime so that more could be passed. After a few years, W & R came back with their results, my paraphrase, "We could find no gun control laws that reduced crime, and we could think of none that would."

More books, "The Great American Gun Debate" by Kates and Kleck.

David T. Hardy's "Origins and Development of the Second Amendment" It's the best dang book I've ever read on the subject and is less than 90 pages long --hardcover.

Rick

 

[SMLE]

I don't know if it can be found in hardcover, but "Armed and Female" by Paxton Quigley would be a good one. JPFO had a couple of good books as well. I'd love to help, but I'm too broke to pay attention right now.

 

[S_O_Laban]

The Second Ammendment Primer. Sorry can't remember the Authors name/s.

I am not sure you will have much success having the book removed. Most books in the Library contain unfactual information and if only books that contained no factual errors where retained most of the library would dissapear. I think it more likely to have the book removed to the fiction section of the library. Good luck, and a copy of UC wouldn't hurt either

 

[gewehr44]

My thought was if they don't remove it (they probably won't) tape a small note on the 1st blank page mentioning the Bancroft prize & his resigning with the links so a reader can look it up themselves! I've considered doing the same thing in my local library...

 

[Brett Bellmore]

Yes, the appropriate response is to glue in an errata page, bringing the fraud to the reader's attention.

Or in Bellesiles' case, an errata volume...

 

[hillbilly]

On the one hand, I understand the ideas of putting an errata page into the front. I am completely for freedom of speech, access to all books.

But on the other hand, Bellesiles is guilty of blatant fraud.

He is not guilty of "factual errors."

He purposefully manipulated and manufactured "facts" and historical documents to create this book.

It'd be like there being a serious book about the Tasaday people in the anthropology section.

http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/Tasaday/Tasaday.htm

In fact, I'm going to check that out today just for the heck of it.

But at the least, the book must have something glued into it that shows it as a fraud.

One way or the other, the book will wind up with that little addition.........


hillbilly

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

JPFO has an interesting reading library and they are usually willing to send books with donations. You might contact them for suggestions as well as help.

 

[Flyboy]

It seems to me I've heard something about Dr. Lott's book(s) being discredited based on some research irregularities. There is a lot of criticism in this article at Mother Jones, as well as the Mary Rosh controversy (see http://www.whoismaryrosh.com/ ). If you're going to argue for the exclusion of Bellesisles based on credibility and academic fraud, be prepared to rebut the same arguments for Dr. Lott.

Yes, I know who Mother Jones is. Yes, I know they'd love to discredit us. That makes them perfect for finding flaws in our arguments, so we can plug any holes in the dykes. This is what the other side is going to use against us; go read the articles, and plan accordingly.