Michael A. Bellesiles: Difference between revisions
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'''Michael A. Bellesiles''' (pronounced "bah-LEEL")<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hnn.us/articles/691.html |title=How the Bellesiles Story Developed |publisher=Hnn.us |date= |accessdate=2010-11-08}}</ref> is an American historian specializing in the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial]] and [[legal history]] of the United States. Bellesiles received his Ph.D. from the [[University of California, Irvine]] and subsequently joined the faculty at [[Emory University]], rising to the rank of full professor. |
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Bellesiles' 2000 book ''[[Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture]]'' won the prestigious [[Bancroft Prize]] in 2001. The prize was rescinded in 2002 after an inquiry by a panel of historians found Bellesiles "guilty of unprofessional and misleading work."<ref name="emory2002">{{cite web|url=http://www.emory.edu/news/Releases//Final_Report.pdf |title=Stanley N. Katz, Hannah H. Gray, and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, "Report of the Investigative Committee in the Matter of Professor Michael Bellesiles," July 10, 2002 |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2010-11-08}}</ref> Bellesiles responded that he had "never fabricated evidence of any kind nor knowingly evaded my responsibilities as a scholar,"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emory.edu/news/Releases//B_statement.pdf |title=Michael Bellesiles statement, 2002 |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2010-11-08}}</ref> but he nonetheless resigned his Emory professorship the same year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/02/12/bancroft_prize.html |title=Bancroft Prize press release, 2002 |publisher=Columbia.edu |date=2002-12-16 |accessdate=2010-11-08}}</ref> |
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After a lengthy absence from academia, Bellesiles published ''1877: America's Year of Living Violently'' in 2010 and holds a teaching position at [[Central Connecticut State University]]. |
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==Education and academic career== |
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Bellesiles received his B.A. from the [[University of California-Santa Cruz]] in 1975 and his PhD from the [[University of California at Irvine]] in 1986. He joined the Emory University faculty in 1988 and was promoted to full professor in 1999. There he served as director of undergraduate studies in history, 1991–1998, and as director of Emory's Center for the Study of Violence. |
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Bellesiles also taught at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]]. In 1998-99, he was a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Institute, and during 2001-02, a Visiting Fellow at the [[Newberry Library]] in Chicago. |
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==''Arming America'' controversy== |
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{{Main|Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture}} |
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This book, which suggested that the "gun culture" in the US arose after the Civil War, and was not present in the colonial period, was controversial. |
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It is the only Bancroft Prize winning book to have the award rescinded on the basis that Bellesiles violated the norms of scholarship expected of such authors. |
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For roughly five years, Bellesiles virtually disappeared from academia, writing only a few book reviews in scholarly journals. In 2006, with Christopher Waldrep, he co-edited ''Documenting American Violence: A Sourcebook'', which includes an article defending Bellesiles.<ref name="johansen_silenced">Bruce E. Johansen, ''Silenced! Academic Freedom, Scientific Inquiry, and the First Amendment Under Siege in America'' (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2007; ISBN 978-0-275-99686-4)</ref><ref>Asked by a reporter in 2010 what he had been doing since 2002, Bellesiles wasn't "entirely forthcoming," saying only that he had done some teaching in England and had worked as a freelancer for a textbook company. Tom Bartlett, "Michael Bellesiles Takes Another Shot," [http://chronicle.com/article/Michael-Bellesiles-Takes/123751/ ''Chronicle of Higher Education'', August 3, 2010]</ref> |
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In 2010, Bellesiles published an article in ''[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]'' recounting his interactions with a student whose brother had been killed by a sniper in Iraq.<ref>{{cite web|last=Basken |first=Paul |url=http://chronicle.com/article/Teaching-Military-History-in-a/66023 |title=''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' |publisher=Chronicle.com |date=2010-06-27 |accessdate=2010-11-08}}</ref> After the truth of the story was questioned,<ref>{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Patricia|title=Scholar Emerges From Doghouse|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/books/04bellisles.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 3, 2010}}</ref><ref>[http://volokh.com/2010/07/09/serious-questions-about-the-veracity-of-michael-bellesiles%E2%80%99s-latest-tale/ Jim Lindgren, "Serious Questions about the veracity of Michael Bellesiles's Latest Tale"], The Volokh Conspiracy, 9 July 2010</ref> notably by [[James Lindgren]], who had earlier challenged the veracity of ''Arming America,'' the newspaper determined that the student had lied to Bellesiles and his teaching assistant.<ref>[http://chronicle.com/article/Teaching-Military-History-in-a/66023 Editorial endnote to Bellesiles article, ''The Chronicle of Higher Education,'' 2010]. Bellesiles said he regretted having unknowingly passed on a story that was inaccurate.</ref> |
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In 2011, Bellesiles was teaching at [[Central Connecticut State University]].<ref>[http://thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1763 New Press blurb]</ref> In 2010 his book ''1877: America's Year of Living Violently'' was published by [[The New Press]].<ref>[http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/126605.html History News Network news item, 2010].</ref> A review in the ''[[Journal of American History]]'' called the "old-fashioned narrative tone" of ''1877'' "so delightfully retro that it is almost cutting edge."<ref>Robert E. Weir review of ''1877'' in the ''Journal of American History'' 98, no. 1 (June 2011), 210-11.</ref> |
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==Writings by Bellesiles== |
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* [http://books.google.com/books?id=eVCkx7428QoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=bellesiles&cd=2#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Revolutionary Outlaws: Ethan Allen and the Struggle for Independence on the Early American Frontier''] (1993) |
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* "[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-8723(199609)83%3A2%3C425%3ATOOGCI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q The Origins of A Gun Culture in the United States, 1760-1865]," ''Journal of American History'' 425 (1996). |
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* Editor, [http://books.google.com/books?id=iuAzDHsAHT0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=bellesiles&cd=5#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Lethal Imagination: Violence and Brutality in American History''] (1999) |
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* [http://chronicle.com/article/Exploding-the-Myth-of-an-Armed/35897 "Exploding the Myth of an Armed America"], ''Chronicle of Higher Education'' (Sept. 29, 2000) |
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* [http://www.oah.org/pubs/nl/2001nov/bellesiles.html "Disarming the Critics"], Organization of American Historians Newsletter (2001) |
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* "The Second Amendment in Action," in Carl T. Bogus and Michael A. Bellesiles (editors), ''The Second Amendment in Law and History: Historians and Constitutional Scholars on the Right to Bear Arms'', The New Press (2001), ISBN 978-1-56584-699-9. |
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* ''[[Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture]]''. [[Alfred A. Knopf]], 2000; 2d ed., [[Soft Skull Press]], 2003. |
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* [http://www.softskull.com/files/weighed_even_balance.pdf ''Weighed in an Even Balance''] (2003) |
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* Editor, [http://books.google.com/books?id=avNCBX6-HnsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=bellesiles&cd=3#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Documenting American Violence: A Sourcebook''] (2006), with Christopher Waldrep |
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* [http://www.hnn.us/articles/126790.html "The Year 1877 Looks Awfully Familiar Today,"] History News Network (May 17, 2010) |
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* [http://chronicle.com/article/Teaching-Military-History-in-a/66023 "Teaching Military History in a Time of War," ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' (June 27, 2010)] |
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* {{Cite book |
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| last1 = Bellesiles | first1 = Michael A. |
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| title = 1877: America's Year of Living Violently |
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| location = New York |
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| publisher = The New Press |
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| year= 2010 |
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| pages = 400 |
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| month = August |
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| isbn = 978-1-59558-441-0 }} |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist|2}} |
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==Further reading== |
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* Jack N. Rakove, Gloria L. Main, Ira D. Gruber, Randolph Roth, and Michael A. Bellesiles, [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/wm/59.1/ "Forum: Historians and Guns,"] ''[[William & Mary Quarterly]]'' (Jan. 2002) |
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* James Lindgren, [http://www.yalelawjournal.org/the-yale-law-journal/content-pages/fall-from-grace:-arming-america-and-the-bellesiles-scandal/ "Fall From Grace: Arming America and the Bellesiles Scandal"], ''[[Yale Law Journal]]'' (May 2002) |
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* James Lindgren and Justin Lee Heather, [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=268583 "Counting Guns in Early America,"] ''William & Mary Law Review'' (2002) |
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* Don Williams, [http://historynewsnetwork.org/articles/article.html?id=741 "Could Bellesiles's Problems Undermine Gun Control?"] History News Network (May 20, 2002) |
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* Jon Weiner, [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20021104/wiener "Fire at Will,"],''[[The Nation]]'' (Nov. 4, 2002) |
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* Jerome Sternstein, [http://hnn.us/articles/1074.html "Shooting the Messenger: Jon Weiner on ''Arming America''"], History News Network (Oct. 28, 2002) |
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* Joyce Lee Malcolm, [http://reason.com/archives/2003/03/01/disarming-history "Disarming History,"] ''[[Reason Magazine]]'' (March 2003) |
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* Peter Charles Hoffer, ''Past Imperfect: Facts, Fictions, Fraud--American History from Bancroft and Parkman to Ambrose, Bellesiles, Ellis, and Goodwin'' (New York: PublicAffairs, 2004): 141-171. |
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* Ron Robin, [http://books.google.com/books?id=mVMJzt_B0xsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=arming+america&cd=2#v=onepage&q=arming%20america&f=false ''Scandals & Scoundrels: Seven Cases that Shook the Academy.''] (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004) |
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* Jon Wiener, ''Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud, and Politics in the Ivory Tower''. (New York: [[The New Press]], 2005). ISBN 1-56584-884-5. |
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* Clayton E. Cramer, [http://www.plagiary.org/why-footnotes-matter.pdf "Why Footnotes Matter: Checking ''Arming America'''s Claims"] ''Plagiary'' (2006) |
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* Clayton E. Cramer, ''Armed America: The Remarkable Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie'' (Nashville, Nelson Current, 2007) ISBN 1-59555-069-0. |
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* Scott McLemee, [http://www.insidehighered.com/views/mclemee/mclemee290 "Amazing Disgrace,"] Inside Higher Ed (May 19, 2010) |
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* Tom Bartlett, "Michael Bellesiles Takes Another Shot," [http://chronicle.com/article/Michael-Bellesiles-Takes/123751/ ''Chronicle of Higher Education'', August 3, 2010]. |
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* Patricia Cohen, "Scholar Emerges From Doghouse", [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/books/04bellisles.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=Patricia%20Cohen&st=cse ''New York Times'', Books, 3 Aug 2010.] |
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==External links== |
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* [http://www.emory.edu/news/Releases//Final_Report.pdf Report of the Investigative Committee in the Matter of Professor Michael Bellesiles] (7/10/02) |
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* [http://www.emory.edu/news/Releases//B_statement.pdf Bellesiles response to the Emory report and resignation statement]. (2002) |
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* [http://www.emory.edu/news/Releases//bellesiles1035563546.html Emory University's press release] announcing the resignation of Dr. Bellesiles (10/25/02) |
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* [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/02/12/bancroft_prize.html Columbia University's press release] rescinding Bellesiles' Bancroft Prize (12/16/02) |
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{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> |
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| NAME = Bellesiles, Michael A. |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellesiles, Michael A.}} |
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[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] |
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[[Category:Living people]] |
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[[Category:American historians]] |
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[[Category:Academic scandals]] |
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[[Category:Central Connecticut State University faculty]] |
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[[Category:Emory University faculty]] |
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[[Category:University of California, Santa Cruz alumni]] |
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[[Category:University of California, Irvine alumni]] |
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Latest revision as of 03:55, 2 June 2012
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