History Lesson: A Race Odyssey [Hardcover]

Professor Mary Lefkowitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2008

In the early 1990s, Classics professor Mary Lefkowitz discovered that one of her faculty colleagues at Wellesley College was teaching his students that Greek culture had been stolen from Africa and that Jews were responsible for the slave trade. This book tells the disturbing story of what happened when she spoke out.

 

Lefkowitz quickly learned that to investigate the origin and meaning of myths composed by people who have for centuries been dead and buried is one thing, but it is quite another to critique myths that living people take very seriously. She also found that many in academia were reluctant to challenge the fashionable idea that truth is merely a form of opinion. For her insistent defense of obvious truths about the Greeks and the Jews, Lefkowitz was embroiled in turmoil for a decade. She faced institutional indifference, angry colleagues, reverse racism, anti-Semitism, and even a lawsuit intended to silence her.

 

In History Lesson Lefkowitz describes what it was like to experience directly the power of both postmodernism and compensatory politics. She offers personal insights into important issues of academic values and political correctness, and she suggests practical solutions for the divisive and painful problems that arise when a political agenda takes precedence over objective scholarship. Her forthright tale uncovers surprising features in the landscape of higher education and an unexpected need for courage from those who venture there.

(20080401)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

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. --Bryce Christensen

Review

"Lefkowitz makes a passionate and well-reasoned case for the importance of traditional virtues in the writing of history: close attention to evidence, clear argument, the refusal to substitute wish for reality. She also discusses with some subtlety the vexed issue of civility on campus."—Martha Nussbaum, University of Chicago

(Martha Nussbaum 20080504)

"A clear-eyed look at the perils—and promise—of contemporary academic life."—Booklist

(Booklist 20080609)

"[Lefkowitz''s] account asks—and answers—provocative questions about the limits of [academic] freedom and about what scholars owe to their disciplines, their students and their colleagues."—Amanda Heller, Boston Sunday Globe

(Amanda Heller Boston Sunday Globe 20080415)

"Lefkowitz''s painful struggle and ultimate victory are edifying—and, perhaps, a hopeful sign for higher education."—Robert Whitcomb, The Weekly Standard

(Robert Whitcomb The Weekly Standard 20080301)

"[Mary Lefkowitz] has advanced the intellectual case against Afrocentrism before, in Not Out of Africa; here she takes a more personal approach, at one point mentioning the strain of the controversy as she battled breast cancer."—John Leo, Wall Street Journal

(John Leo Wall Street Journal 20080528)

"[Lefkowitz''] forthright tale uncovers surprising features in the landscape of higher education and an unexpected need for courage from those who venture there."—Greek America Magazine

(Greek America Magazine 20080801)

"[Lefkowitz] is a courageous woman who deserves commendation for instructing us that academic freedom is not a license to tell lies in the classroom."—Morton I. Teicher, National Jewish Post & Opinion

(Morton I. Teicher National Jewish Post & Opinion 20090301)

"This short but important book is the personal account of an acrid controversy that erupted at Wellesley College during the culture wars of the early and mid-1990s. . . . [Lefkowitz] recounts her ''cautionary tale'' in lucid and riveting detail."—Leo Goldberger, Moment Magazine

(Leo Goldberger Moment Magazine )

"Highly recommended."—Choice

(Choice )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (April 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030012659X
• ISBN-13: 978-0300126594
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,192,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read, May 11, 2008

By 

Diane M. Davidson "mystery writer" (Evergreen, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: History Lesson: A Race Odyssey (Hardcover)

This brilliant, cogently written book details the agonies classical scholar Mary Lefkowitz encountered when she endeavored, over a 5-year period, to stand up and fight for ancient history to be taught at Wellesley college from evidence, not from the wishful thinking of Afro-centrists. (Truth in reviewing: I am a Wellesley alumna, and I never dreamed such a surreal, bizarre conflict could take place at my school.) When Lefkowitz, a mild-mannered, well-spoken professor, pointed out that all the evidence pointed to Greek philosophy being invented by Greeks, not Egyptians, she was branded as a racist, and was the subject of anti-Semitic rants. Thank God Lefkowitz stuck to her guns, although clearly, the fight took a toll on her. This book is an absolute MUST READ for anyone interested in the messes academics now find themselves embroiled in. We ALL must fight for the TRUTH to be taught in classrooms; otherwise, we will have no common ground on which to engage in learned discourse. I unqualifiedly recommend this book, and have bought SIX copies to send to friends.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Political Correctness Run Amok, May 17, 2008

By 

Jonathan Brown (Fair Oaks,, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: History Lesson: A Race Odyssey (Hardcover)

Mary Lefkowitz is a classics scholar, who spent her career in ancient history and languages who is now retired. This is the story of what happens when a distinguished scholar like Lefkowitz questions the dogma of the phony scholars that hide under the mantle of political correctness.

Some writers who are trying to build an "afrocentric" history, they should not be called scholars, have argued that the Greeks stole major ideas from the Egyptians especially by taking things from the library at Alexandria. They make the specific claim that Aristotle did that. Odd thing however is that Aristotle was dead before the library was built; that is according to a well researched historical record. But in the deconstructionist world of many universities, facts don't matter, interpretations do.

Lefowitz details the perils of pointing that fact out. Her colleagues at Wellesley lacked the temerity to defend her. Lefkowitz did what a scholar should, she raised questions based on her research about these odd and fundamentally absurd notions. Unfortunately, she was not appreciated for her principled stance. Both her provost and her president, failed to defend her against the attacks from the other side who called her all sorts of names. Professor Lefkowitz, however, had the intellectual integrity to stick to her facts.

This is a chronicle of the costs of maintaining scholarly standards. It is well written and quite interesting.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The truth will set you free but first it will make you miserable, June 20, 2008

By 

Peter Ingemi (Worcester County, Massachusetts United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: History Lesson: A Race Odyssey (Hardcover)

The story of Mary Lefkowitz and her experiences over the last decade and a half is very important not only in terms of the facts, but as a story of how the culture wars are fought.

How a scholar of ancient history whose only concern was the teaching of facts, became a flash point in the race game is an object lesson in what happens when you ignore important principles in order to get along. The critical points in the book are early as she shows how in order to avoid confrontation people with authority choose to empower those who eschew fact, evidence, schollarship, procedure and decorum. The enablers, more than the hucksters, are the real villains of this book. Their cowardice should be a source of personal and professional disgrace as tachers and administrators. It is an excellent illustration of the cost of appeasement.

Her writing seems rather naive at times; almost as if she doesn't realize why this is happening. In the end she decides that facts were being suborned for the sake of a desired result (empowerment and pride). She argues that a noble motive doesn't justify the use of untruth and myth. It demeans those who the users would hope to empower. Lefkowitz's essential innocence to actual motive is almost incredible to read, but is no more odd that the media's unwillingness to condemn a certain reverend's from Chicago incredible statements before a select group until he publicly made those same statements in front of a national audience.

This is the book's one weakness. She doesn't realize that this is in effect a religion and its "preachers" goal is to empower not the follower but themselves for the sake of status, influence and financial reward. This can only be done if the rubes are kept angry and dependant. Her fact based argument was and is a threat to this. Thus she was attacked.

In terms of readability this is as dry as one might expect from one whose main concern is literal fact. Lefkowitz is no Shelby Foote or Will Durant but she doesn't have to be, the story itself is compelling and topical enough not to require such an author.

This fault aside this book is vital reading. It is important to reward truth and those who will stand up to it but its also a reminder to others that the price of silence will eventually have to be paid with interest.