Academics Behaving Badly

Abstract

Book Review| March 01 2008 Academics Behaving Badly The Disappearing Liberal IntellectualEric Lott, New YorkBasic Books2006 272$26.00/£15.99HB 0-465-04186-8Absent Minds: Intellectuals in BritainStefan Collini, OxfordOxford University Press2006 526$45.00/£25.00HB 0-199-29105-2 Ian Gordon Ian Gordon Author InformationIAN GORDON IS A CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORIAN AT THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE. HIS MOST RECENT PUBLICATION IS FILM AND COMIC BOOKS (JACKSON, 2007). HIS ARTICLE “NOSTALGIA, MYTH, AND IDEOLOGY: VISIONS OF SUPERMAN AT THE END OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY” WILL APPEAR IN THE FORTHCOMING CULTURAL STUDIES ANTHOLOGY FROM BLACKWELL. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Cultural Politics (2008) 4 (1): 123–128. https://doi.org/10.2752/175174308X266424 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Ian Gordon; Academics Behaving Badly. Cultural Politics 1 March 2008; 4 (1): 123–128. doi: https://doi.org/10.2752/175174308X266424 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter Books & JournalsAll JournalsCultural Politics Search Advanced Search Two different underlying assumptions form the rationale for Eric Lott’s and Stefan Collini’s books. Lott writes from a conviction that intellectuals exist in the United States and they have a duty to engage with the issues of the day. His book is a salvo across the bows of some left-liberal intellectuals whom he accuses of drifting from their new left origins to a comfortable accommodation with the status quo through which they have accumulated the spoils of academic appointments and the celebrity of Pooh-Bahs pontificating on matters of high public import. Lott draws comparisons between these baby boomers seeking a workable accommodation with American life and The Vital Center, the late Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.’s 1949 rallying point for Cold War liberals. Lott’s is a short fast-paced work that oft reads like an indictment. There is little doubt though in Lott’s work and the responses to it that the... Issue Section: Book Review Essay You do not currently have access to this content.