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________________________________________ From: Paul Finkelman [paul.finkelman@yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 8:29 PM To: H-Net and ASLH Legal History Discussion list; paul.finkelman@yahoo.com Subject: Re: Reply: If only I could fail as Beard did Happy to consider the Beard is as important as Gibbon. Fair enough. And Huizinga. Not bad company for someone who was SO wrong. ---- Paul Finkelman President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law Albany Law School 80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, NY 12208 518-445-3386 (p) 518-445-3363 (f) paul.finkelman@albanylaw.edu www.paulfinkelman.com ________________________________ From: "Spivack, Carla" <CSpivack@OKCU.EDU> To: "paul.finkelman@yahoo.com" <PAUL.FINKELMAN@YAHOO.COM> Sent: Thu, January 21, 2010 5:03:08 PM Subject: Reply: If only I could fail as Beard did Carla Spivack, J.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Law Oklahoma City University School of Law ph: (405) 208-5370 -----Original Message----- From: Schiller, Reuel E. [mailto:schiller@uchastings.edu] Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 3:58 PM To: H-Net and ASLH Legal History Discussion list Subject: RE: [BULK] Reply: If only I could fail as Beard did " Can anyone name ANY other work of a historian, published almost a century ago, that is still in print, still taught, and still argued about? " What about Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages (1919). Reuel Schiller UC Hastings -----Original Message----- From: H-Net and ASLH Legal History Discussion list [mailto:H-LAW@H-NET.MSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Spivack, Carla Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 1:06 PM To: H-LAW@H-NET.MSU.EDU Subject: [BULK] Reply: If only I could fail as Beard did Importance: Low Carla Spivack, J.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Law Oklahoma City University School of Law ph: (405) 208-5370 -----Original Message----- From: Eric Reiter [mailto:ereiter@alcor.concordia.ca] Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 1:25 PM To: 'H-Net and ASLH Legal History Discussion list' Subject: RE: Reply: If only I could fail as Beard did " Can anyone name ANY other work of a historian, published almost a century ago, that is still in print, still taught, and still argued about? " Not to detract from an excellent post, but I can't resist the challenge. Leaving aside Gibbon, the former medievalist in me would mention Burkhardt's The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1867), which still shapes debate on whether there was a sharp break between medieval and early modern, and which is available in a Kindle edition as well as in paper. Your point on Beard is well taken, however. Best wishes, Eric Reiter Concordia University, Montreal -----Original Message----- From: H-Net and ASLH Legal History Discussion list [mailto:H-LAW@H-NET.MSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Spivack, Carla Sent: January-21-10 2:11 PM To: H-LAW@H-NET.MSU.EDU Subject: Reply: If only I could fail as Beard did Carla Spivack, J.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Law Oklahoma City University School of Law ph: (405) 208-5370 -----Original Message----- From: Paul Finkelman [mailto:paul.finkelman@yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:21 PM To: H-Net and ASLH Legal History Discussion list; paul.finkelman@yahoo.com Subject: If only I could fail as Beard did I recall a day in graduate school when the quantitative methods professor was going on and on and on about how terrible Beard's work was. His statistics were poor, his methodology was wrong, etc. etc. etc. One graduate student raised his hand and "innocently" asked "Professor, if I could write a book that is that bad, do you think I could dominate all of American historiography for the next 60 years?" We might now say that and just change it to the next hundred years. Can anyone name ANY other work of a historian, published almost a century ago, that is still in print, still taught, and still argued about? As we approach the centennial of An Economic Interpretation, I hope some enterprising (is that the right word here? I think so) scholar will plan a conference on Beard, a century later. I am working on my contribution right now! ---- Paul Finkelman President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law Albany Law School 80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, NY 12208 518-445-3386 (p) 518-445-3363 (f) paul.finkelman@albanylaw.edu www.paulfinkelman.com ________________________________ From: "Spivack, Carla" <CSpivack@OKCU.EDU> To: "paul.finkelman@yahoo.com" <PAUL.FINKELMAN@YAHOO.COM> Sent: Thu, January 21, 2010 11:58:48 AM Subject: Reply: Beard ________________________________________ From: C. Ashley Ellefson [aellefson@cortland.edu] Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 8:23 AM To: H-Net and ASLH Legal History Discussion list Subject: Beard When we approach Beard we have to be careful not to decide first that we do not like what he says, then find reasons for not liking it, and then dismiss it from our thinking without considering what might be of value in it. His conclusions do not fit the heroic view of "the Founders," whom a lot of people have all but worshiped for more than two hundred years. Our schooling, the media, and finally the "conventional wisdom" guarantee that it is very difficult to approach Beard objectively. A person who wants to advance in academia will find it safer to accept than to challenge that "conventional wisdom," which appeals to the legislators and the foundations who provide the grants for such things as research, summer institutes, and conferences, and to the the people who read manuscripts for journals and publishers of books. "Respectability" counts. Charles Beard says a lot. We would be wise to pay some attention to him. C. Ashley Ellefson Professor of History Emeritus SUNY Cortland
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