Disarming History

Reason ^ | March 2003 | Joyce Lee Malcolm

[Cincinatus]

How an award-winning scholar twisted the truth about America’s gun culture -- and almost got away with it.

"Real historical writers probe factual uncertainties, but they do not invent convenient facts and they do not ignore inconvenient facts. People are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts." -- William Kelleher Storey, Writing History

When the Playboy interview with Michael Bellesiles appeared in January 2001, the Emory University history professor was riding high. He was basking in the heady glow of rave reviews and a media blitz hailing his book, Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, as a "tour de force" that "changes everything." Bellesiles claimed to have discovered that, contrary to accepted opinion, guns were scarce in early America and Americans were uninterested in owning them. "The notion that a well-armed public buttressed the American dream," he assured readers, "would have appeared harebrained to most Americans before the Civil War." It was all an "invented tradition," with historians joining "actively in the mythmaking." Reviewers of Arming America were quick to point out the "inescapable policy implications."

The Playboy interview ended with Bellesiles’ challenge to the powerful gun lobby: "As for the NRA [National Rifle Association], when anyone talks about the history of guns in America, they’re going to have to give me evidence -- facts, not folktales." Three months later, despite growing skepticism, Arming America was awarded Columbia University’s prestigious Bancroft Prize for the best work of American history published in 2000. It seemed the question of what was fact, what fiction, had been settled.

[Cincinatus]

Good history of L'Affaire Bellesiles.

[RKV]

Great article. Professor Malcom's books are informative and well researched, as well. Nice to note that she recognizes Clayton Cramer's contribution to uncovering Bellesiles' fraud. He is no "amatuer." Of course, some of these academics would call Thucydides an amatuer because he didn't have a Ph.D.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

"People are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts."

Where did this quote appear? I remember George Will invoking this wonderful quote in a reference, I believe, to Al Gore (can't remember the precise details). Now I'm wondering if George lifted this from someone else without attribution. Or maybe it's a colloquilism (sp) that's put it in the public domain for all to use -- but it is a great quote with many applications (most aimed at Dems).

[libertylover]

"Unfortunately, Bellesiles reports, the pads were irreparably damaged in a May 2000 flood at Emory University."

I've only been to Emory once, but I remember it sitting up on a fairly steep hill. If Emory was flooded then half of Atlanta would be flooded.

[Basil Duke]

His story was that a water pipe in his office ceiling burst and soaked his research notes.

[Conspiracy Guy]

I always turn to Playboy for the hard hitting fictional interviews. I also enjoy the airbrushed pictures.

[Alas Babylon!]

The problem I and many others had against Bellesiles work is it flies to the oppposite of history and common sense. How is it possible for Americans to exist safely on a hostile frontier without weapons to defend themseves? The frontier was not a myth. It existed from the moment the first English colonists set foot on the New World. Hostilities with the Indians began shortly after Jamestown was founded. In fact, in 1622, the first major war occured with over 300 colonists killed.

I recently watched a History Channel documentary on the Mountain Men of the Rocky Mountains. Their hayday was in the 1820's and 30's. ALL were armed. To hunt beaver in Indian Country without a firearm would have been suicide. Bellesiles was and is a liar.

[harpseal]

indexed

[TexanToTheCore]

One of Bellesiles big mistakes was falsifying records in an area that was so well documented. There are literally hundreds of books on the subject and not one supports Bellesiles. A dummy who doesn't deserve a PhD.

[Cincinatus]

Hubris. He arrogantly thought no one would dare question or investigate his findings and assertions.

[MoGalahad]

Thank you, Cincinatus for the illuminating article and link. Unfortunately, History is not the only academic discipline which has seen questionable scholarship over the last half century.

[spodefly]

Bellesiles is just a symptom of a much larger assualt on American culture, history, and principles. Those of us that still have the firearms that have been in our families for generations knew he was lying. But the left would erase us and our history as surely we breath.

Bellesiles is a traitor. By being fired from Emory and having his Bancroft prize revoked, he got off light.

[archy]

Bellesiles is a traitor. By being fired from Emory and having his Bancroft prize revoked, he got off light.

The fat lady ain't sung yet. And I think she has an aria or two dedicated to Mr. Bellesiles to sound off with.

-archy-/-