[ClaireSolt]

NPR described Reston as an historian, so I looked that up. He has written 11 books, but apparently "popular history" is a generous description. Polemic is another. He probably lives off of his father's fame as a NYT columnist. Here is one estimate of his worth, according to Amazon "Get James Reston, Jr.'s Amazon Short, Behind the Damask Curtain, for just 49¢."

[RightWhale]

There is good polemicism and bad, and there are good and bad polemicists. Most of us never get beyond dinner table polemicism, even if we bring it into the street and embarrass professional polemicists.

There is a time to polemicize and there is a time to refrain and this is one of those times.
-P. Sellers