Comments on: Three Footnotes on Moroni and the Swastika

By: Wilfried

Wilfried — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 17:45:32 +0000

Good and painful work, Jonathan. My advice to the young who get into reviewing: get tenure first, establish a solid reputation, review only topics you’re well acquainted with, stay objective, be prepared to spend countless hours on each review, and, if the review is negative, be willing to lose a few friends.

As to assessing the fluid boundaries between blatant, serious, and mild plagiarism, and quite a few other forms of “sloppy citation” or “dropped quotation marks,” my advice for a review is to only draw attention to similarities, and let people in charge (publishers, academic superiors, the related professional organization) decide if they want to follow up. I wrote a few things about the topic: Google decoo + plagiarism.

By: Jonathan Green

Jonathan Green — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 16:41:35 +0000

Thanks for the comments and questions, including the unanswerable ones. Russell, it’s true that I enjoy some apologetic red meat at times, but once you go from consuming reviews and articles to writing them yourself (on any topic), you develop some perspective and a sense of measure, a sense that serious books from reputable presses merit a serious response, while amateur self-published works usually don’t. Back in the early 90s, I know I didn’t have that perspective yet.

Greg, the people in publishing generally do good work, but editors and editorial boards have to rely on the expert opinion of peer reviewers. If those two or three referees think the research looks solid, and the writing is passable, and the book looks like it will make a significant contribution to its discipline, and the people in accounting think a book can probably sell enough copies to break even, the book has a good shot at publication.

By: Kevin Barney

Kevin Barney — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 01:36:49 +0000

Jonathan, I always enjoy your posts on German-related subjects. Well done, and thank you.

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 21:31:24 +0000

My main thought on reading this is: I’m so glad there are people like Jonathan Green out there. Yeoman’s work, but so important to the cause of truth. Shouldn’t people in the publishing industry be doing this job so we don’t have to?

By: Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 21:26:15 +0000

One thing you leave out, Jonathan: the fact that a lot of us enjoyed reading those vicious, exhaustive fiskings in the old FARMS Review. Sure, in retrospect, they all contributed to a kind of self-indulgent one-upmanship, which in turn arguably contributed to a degree of close-mindedness….but it’s not like there wasn’t a chuckling, delighted audience for DCP dropping one of his patented, smirking, two-ton bombs on some pathetic bit of self-published anti-Mormon errata. I know, because I was part of it.

By: Brad L

Brad L — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 20:40:15 +0000

Very interested to read this review in full, as well as the book.

By: Jonathan E

Jonathan E — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 19:28:29 +0000

Please consider posting this or a link (are links allowed?) as an Amazon review!

By: Ben S.

Ben S. — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 18:56:18 +0000

Excellent work.
Also, thanks for introducing me to the idea of patchwriting.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 18:16:44 +0000

Very well done, Jonathan.

One question that I don’t know the answer to–either in 1931 or in 2015–is whether “pound of flesh” can be used without being accused of it being a dog whistle for anti-Semites. I suspect that in our enlightened days, any reference to Shakespeare’s play would subject the speaker–particularly if he or she were from a disfavored minority–to accusations of anti-Semitism.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 17:25:20 +0000

Jonathan, other than the bungled citation of someone else's use of Der Stern, did you notice whether Moroni and the Swastika made any use at all of Der Stern? It seems like the most obvious source for examining Mormon attitude and behavior in the years leading up to the war -- I mean, if you, as a Church organization, wanted to instruct your flock or even mildly signal an approved attitude toward the government or any aspect of politics, Der Stern would be an efficient way to get the word out. I would expect heavy use of Der Stern as a source here.