History lesson : a race odyssey /

Distinguished classicist Lefkowitz (Wellesley College) is probably better known as the controversial author of Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History (CH, Jul'96, 33-6439) and similar writings. Here she recounts her battles with fictionalized and biased history practiced by various Afrocentric extremists and Martin Bernal, author of the eristic Black Athena (vol.1, CH, Jun'88; vol. 2, CH, Jan'92, 29-2871; vol.3, 2006). Lefkowitz's involvement with the culture wars began when she was invited to review the second volume of Black Athena for The New Republic. About that time, Afrocentric extremism in the Wellesley college curriculum came to her attention. As a scholar, she protested propaganda being presented as sound scholarship and myth being taught as history. It was not the politically correct or postmodernist thing to do. Trouble followed in stacked debates, insults, intimidation, threats, lawsuits, and resorts to anti-semitism, all initially tolerated or ignored by timid colleagues and cowardly administrators. The thin red line defending academic integrity was much thinner than one might have predicted at a venerable college like Wellesley. Despite the bruising battles, Lefkowitz has few regrets and feels that the state of academic integrity on US campuses has actually improved from the early 1990s. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Most levels/libraries. R. Fritze Athens State University

Scarred veteran of campus conflict, Lefkowitz here recounts her arduous struggle during the 1990s to defend academic standards against politically potent mythologizers. The memoir focuses on Lefkowitz's challenge to two historical myths one, that the ancient Greeks stole their philosophy from Egypt, and, two, that Jews masterminded the transatlantic slave trade promulgated by Wellesley's African Studies program. Much to the author's dismay, her initial attack on the pedagogical malpractice implicit in these myths did not win her many academic allies. Instead, Lefkowitz found herself abandoned by postmodern colleagues skeptical of all truth claims and by administrators supine in their interpretation of academic freedom. Tensions between Jewish and African American scholars exacerbated by the very myths under debate exposed the author to charges of racism and to virulent anti-Semitism. Though unjustly compelled to defend herself in court, Lefkowitz finally triumphed, not only vindicating her personal intellectual standards but also awakening within the academic community a renewed commitment to professional integrity. A clear-eyed look at the perils and promise of contemporary academic life.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2008 Booklist