I very much enjoyed Pankaj Mishra's review of Niall Ferguson's Civilization: The West and the Rest. By 'review,' I mean 'a thorough and relentless intellectual ass-kicking.'
Well, Ferguson did not like the article quite as much as I did. He wrote in to the London Review of Books to demand an apology. His specific beef was the charge of racism-- not said outright but pretty much implied by Mishra's review. Ferguson's letter seems to return a few good blows, but Mishra's reply is just as thorough and hostile as his review (and is also contained in the link in this paragraph).
Their exhange did not smooth things over. Ferguson wrote back and was like, "David Daokui Li is hardly an ‘obscure scholar’. He is one of China’s leading economists." SNAP. Point Ferguson! Mishra took a drag off his cigarette [assumed] and quipped, "Yeah buddy, some readers of Civilisation {sic, English spelling} may still want to see the actual paper that apparently singlehandedly discredits a major work of scholarship." OH NO HE DIDN'T. (Full disclosure: oh no, he didn't say "Yeah buddy." I added that for fun's sake. And again, both Ferguson's letter and Mishra's response are in the link in this paragraph.)
And now? Ferguson is threatening to sue for libel.
I don't have a dog in the fight, I should admit. I've never read any Ferguson books, so, despite the vibe I have that I would not like them, I can't really say who is right about the book. Though I have a guess...
Well, Ferguson did not like the article quite as much as I did. He wrote in to the London Review of Books to demand an apology. His specific beef was the charge of racism-- not said outright but pretty much implied by Mishra's review. Ferguson's letter seems to return a few good blows, but Mishra's reply is just as thorough and hostile as his review (and is also contained in the link in this paragraph).
Their exhange did not smooth things over. Ferguson wrote back and was like, "David Daokui Li is hardly an ‘obscure scholar’. He is one of China’s leading economists." SNAP. Point Ferguson! Mishra took a drag off his cigarette [assumed] and quipped, "Yeah buddy, some readers of Civilisation {sic, English spelling} may still want to see the actual paper that apparently singlehandedly discredits a major work of scholarship." OH NO HE DIDN'T. (Full disclosure: oh no, he didn't say "Yeah buddy." I added that for fun's sake. And again, both Ferguson's letter and Mishra's response are in the link in this paragraph.)
And now? Ferguson is threatening to sue for libel.
I don't have a dog in the fight, I should admit. I've never read any Ferguson books, so, despite the vibe I have that I would not like them, I can't really say who is right about the book. Though I have a guess...
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