Amazon Attacks
Reviewer:
J_Alfred Prufrock (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
Well what you see if what you get when it comes to David Horowitz and his ex-Marxist ideology, meaning that he kept the repressive parts he does so seem to enjoy. David Horowitz often likes to attack people personally, so why not do it in book form right?
Well in reading this book I learned two very important things about Mr. Horowitz. One he attacks people with the same type of extreme ideology he says he abhors in the "left." He is vicious in his words and extreme in his ideals. I would call him a thinking man's Ann Coulter. Not that he says something of substance, but at least he uses bigger words than allot of his colleagues in the Ministry of Disinformation.
And two he seems to have an axe to grind with allot of people in academics and civil rights. He often bases his attacks in this book off murky evidence and out of context quotes. He attacks all these colleges and does no introspect to colleges like Bob Jones Universities that attack on anyone not voting their ideology as "pagans." And if you think this man doesn't have an extreme, racist point-of-view please read the following:
"If blacks are oppressed in America, why isn't there a black exodus?" - Salon article "Guns don't kill black people, other blacks do" 1999
Seriously? Defend this please I beg of you.
"What about the debt blacks owe to America-to white America-for liberating them from slavery?" - from "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks-and Racist Too," an article in FrontPageMagazine.com, January 3, 2001.
Hmmm...So African Americans owe white America reparations?
"The claim for reparations is premised on the false assumption that only whites have benefited from slavery. If slave labor created wealth for Americans, then obviously it has created wealth for black Americans as well, including the descendants of slaves." - from "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks-and Racist Too," an article in FrontPageMagazine.com, January 3, 2001.
Again I'm not sure what the point of this statement is other than being racist.
"What I've set out to do is to try to restore the educational principles that were in place before the generation of sixties leftists infiltrated the university and corrupted it by transforming it into an ideological platform." City-Journal Winter 2005
Yes Mr. Horowitz please lets go back to those gleeful times of open racism, segregation, and legal wife beating.
I would recommend reading another book like "Higher Education And The Color Line: College Access, Racial Equity, And Social Change" by Gary Orfield or trying thinking for yourself about the world. Be a conservative and a liberal or what I like to call a human being.
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7 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
Tripe by any other name . . ., February 26, 2006
Reviewer:
I don't drink the Kool-Aid (WDC) - See all my reviews
One more bitter uber-conservative hack mad at the world because others can think.
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38 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
Stalinist purges have nothing on Amazon.com!, February 26, 2006
Reviewer:
Mrs. Tarquin Biscuitbarrel (Undisclosed Location) - See all my reviews
I bought and read this book eagerly in the hope that one of my friends of 30+ years, Harriet C. Edwards, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics at California State University at Fullerton, would be included.
She was not. Evidently Mr. Horowitz doesn't speak calculus. Nor does he fully understand the empowering--and by his lights, "highly dangerous" abilities that such mathematic skills--provide to Dr. Edwards' students, most of whom juggle jobs, family responsibilities, or both. In addition, many of the good professor's students are somewhat swarthy: Hispanic, Asian, African-American, etc. They enroll in higher mathematics courses in order to prepare them for careers than bypass swabbing toilets, hotel housekeeping, part-time gigs at Wal-Mart, or assembly-line box-stuffing at Amazon.
Despite my disappointment at Dr. Edwards' omission, I am similarly crestfallen that other highly regarded academics are considered "dangerous" simply because Horowitz says so. Horowitz frowns upon Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan, because Dr. Cole's knowledge of Arabic and of the distressing political situation in Iraq caused him to destroy the wool-gathering fulminations of columnist Jonah Goldberg, who speaks only English, and marginally at best.
Gen. J.C. Christian's first review of this book has been dropped, despite its enthusiastic reception by Amazon's customers. Evidently, Amazon's alarm at the prospect of service-industry workers eventually becoming teachers, engineers, and business professionals was too, too much to be borne. Shame on you. I will buy discount books in the future at CostCo, which pays a living wage to its employees.
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30 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
More of the same from an out of touch idealogue, February 26, 2006
Reviewer:
jake001 (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews
More what you say? After reading I found more:
- lying about liberal america
- racist themes
- lumping of people into convenient groups for Mr. Horowitz to bash
- more hate
- more vitiol
Save your money, buy something worthwhile like "America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction". I think this would provide people with a better insight to what is wrong with folks like Mr. Horowitz.
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50 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
Horowitz, nothing to see here., February 26, 2006
Reviewer:
"rotaslav" - See all my reviews
A brief read standing in the stacks was all that was required for me to wish I could get back the 30 minutes I lost standing there reading.
I remember this from January~
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/01/11/retract
Retractions From David Horowitz - a clip from the web article noted above...
....But as hearings ended in Philadelphia Tuesday, critics of the Academic Bill of Rights were saying that they had scored key points. David Horowitz, the conservative activist who has led the push for the hearings in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, admitted that he had no evidence to back up two of the stories he has told multiple times to back up his charges that political bias is rampant in higher education.
In an interview after the hearing, Horowitz said that his acknowledgements were inconsequential, and he complained about "nit picking" by his critics. But while Horowitz was declaring the hearings "a great victory" for his cause, he lost some powerful stories. For example, Horowitz has said several times that a biology professor at Pennsylvania State University used a class session just before the 2004 election to show the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, but he acknowledged Tuesday that he didn't have any proof that this took place.
In a phone interview, Horowitz said that he had heard about the alleged incident from a legislative staffer and that there was no evidence to back up the claim. He added, however, that "everybody who is familiar with universities knows that there is a widespread practice of professors venting about foreign policy even when their classes aren't about foreign policy" and that the lack of evidence on Penn State doesn't mean there isn't a problem.
"These are nit picking, irrelevant attacks," he said.
Others think that it's quite relevant that Horowitz couldn't back up the example, especially since there have been previous incidents in which his claims about professors have been debunked.
"So much of what he has said previously has been exposed to be lies or distortions that it makes any of his examples questionable," said Jamie Horwitz, a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers. The lack of evidence about the Penn State and other examples "should give this committee and any committee anywhere in the country pause about considering an Academic Bill of Rights," he added. "The bottom line is that there's not a lot of there there."...
Horowitz is what he despises.
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6 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
Hello ..., February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Benj Hellie "Benj Hellie" (For, The Record) - See all my reviews
Horowitz missed the Leiter Reports/For the Record posse. We are way more dangerous than any of those punk ass academics he is so scared of. Hello, like, how clueless can you be!!!
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62 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
Buy it, then burn it, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Zaine Ridling - See all my reviews
Horowitz has been confused for so long that he can't remember when he began hating America. In 'The Professors' he makes claims that is false to all our campus experiences. When read juxtaposed to Howard Dean's "You Have the Power: How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America," you begin to see who's right, and how wrong Horowitz really is.
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20 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
Keeping the Dream Alive: Joe McCarthy and Joseph Goebbels Have a Voice, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Brian Keith O. Hara "bkohatl" (bkohatl) - See all my reviews
I was in the bookstore just glancing at this book, which is a clone of Bernard Goldberg vicious, nasty little Republican hate tome 100 People Screwing Up America. At least Al Franken is original, tells the truth and is witty. All Bernard Goldberg is is cold-blooded, cruel and vicious, but at least he was original in venemous Republican Hate Orgy.
David Horowitz can't even claim that. This book isn't even worth turning into toilet paper.
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0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Sketchy Conservative Credentials, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
The Rear Admiral (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
I agree with the author. Academia is teeming with fancy pants liberals with their uppidy reading and writing skills. I once had a professor who claimed conservative credentials. I almost believed him until he bad-mouthed Hitler and Franco. Sadly I can't rate this book higher than one as the author is frequently lax with the rules of grammar. I lost count of the number of infinitives he split! A true conservative knows rules MUST be followed. Always, and without question. Since I only read books that enforce my worldview, this one left me puzzled and somewhat disappointed.
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32 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
More rightwing claptrap, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Gregory M. Miller "BiggerBill" (Toledo OH) - See all my reviews
Yes, wingnuts, another "review" that you won't like, and claim that is unfair because I haven't read the book. Well, if Richard Mellon Scaife would send me a copy of the thousands that he has already bought, I would be glad to thumb through it before putting it to better use in the bathroom. I have read as much of the book as most of those who gave it five stars, and find the constant whining tiresome.
Oh, and David Horowitz, former darling of the left? Is that on his official bio? The fact that he joined other neo-Stalints in the neo-conservative movement is the left's gain, not the right's.
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Reviewer:
Jeffrey L. Seltzer - See all my reviews
This book is bad. This badly written book oozes badness from every badly written sentence. It is bad beyond all conceivable concepts and notions of badness.
Well, maybe it's not that bad, but Lord it isn't good.
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92 of 119 people found the following review helpful:
McCarthy is alive!, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
J. Gunderson - See all my reviews
I have to admit I disapprove of people voting for things based upon political agenda, whether it be liberal or conservative. So I borrowed the book, read it, but more so than that I did some outside research.
I go to college and find it unusual that people believe that there is this pervasive liberal front going on in our academia. I have never heard a professor in the middle of biology, physics, psychology, philosophy, or any other classes in a differing field ever go on a tangent about politics. Such is an attempt from the uneducated conservative movement, who don't understand the processes of critical thought, to explain why it is intelligence and liberalism correlate.
This witch-hunt book mirrors the efforts of Joseph McCarthy and his brigade to attack, defame, and slander anyone who dare speaks their opposing opinions, and then label such speech "liberal".
Any critical thinker who reads this book will realize Horowitz has never attended the classes, nor engaged in dialogue with the professors he so labels "communist, terrorist-loving traitors", So where does he get his information? Hearsay? Fabrications? Who knows. All I know is that this book out not be read by any conservative for it only inflames their ignorance of academia.
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66 of 87 people found the following review helpful:
Right, left or other - don't waste your time or money., February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Peter Johnson - See all my reviews
This book is yet another in the continuing series of partisan pap currently being churned out to make a quick buck from the faithful. [...]
Horowitz's "The Professors" effort is full of same time of errors that resulted in him having to withdraw his "Farenheit 9/11 screened before class" and "George Bush is a war criminal" claims, both of which he withdrew after acknowledging he had no evidence of either.
[...]
The tone for the work is set by the cover which states "101 academics...happen to be alleged ex-terrorists, racists, murderers, sexual deviants, anti-Semites, and al-Qaeda supporters." No evidence of course, just a nice juicy "alleged" slur to brighten up sales.
Horowitz's premise that "the left" has taken over our institutions of higher learning in a pernicious and secret coup is harmed by his failure to provide an evil prof from either Harvard or Yale.
Strangely enough, however, several of those listed have either bested and/or had run-ins with Horowitz in the past and their entries may perhaps be solely for purposes of revenge.
All in all, a dreadful book that I would ONLY give to your worst enemy, whatever his or her politics may be.
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69 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
The Peril of the Classroom for the Young Conservative, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Commander Cody, JPF (hamilton, ohio) - See all my reviews
David is the Ideological, tentatively male version of Ann Coulter- David is actually better looking than Ann so he has that going for him.
Now, David has a List. He calls his List; "The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America." Bill O'Reilly also has a list but it is apparently only four items long and, therefore, unworthy of a capital "L".
David's List brings to our attention a Doomsday Scenario wherein Crazed College Professors, Hellbent on Wiping Ignorance Off the Face of the Map, Draw Beads on Fragile Future Conservatives who Stumble Innocently into Their Hallow-Halled ALAMUT.
There, through the enchanting words on the Old Man of the Mountain's Chalkboard, they are Stripped of their Certainty and Indoctrinated into the World of the Educated- from the world of the "edjamucated", presumably.
Unfortunately, David fails to mention that, though the Threat may indeed be Real, it is a threat only to He, His Retirement Account, and the Pitifully Small Legacy he will one day leave behind. [...]
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109 of 133 people found the following review helpful:
Cash Grab, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Jake Brayker "Jake" (Capital City, USA) - See all my reviews
Academia has a long history of being a bastion for liberal thought, but Horowitz's mistaken premise is that this is a) somehow a conspiracy and b) anything new.
His facts are weak and the book feels like it's just taking shots at low hanging fruit for a quick buck.
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21 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
Horowitz counts on your ignorance, February 24, 2006
Reviewer:
C. Goff "wobblie" (Eugene, OR) - See all my reviews
I'm familiar with a good number of the professors who are, erm... "profiled" in Horowitz's latest screed, and I'll agree with his assessment of many of them. Yep, they're radicals. They challenge sexism, racism, capitalism, U.S. foreign policy, etc., etc.
And this all occurs, shockingly enough, at a univeristy, where one expects a diversity of opinions. And luckily, this diversity is protected by the academy's commitment to academic freedom from [...] Horowitz and his ilk. And yes, I did have conservative professors in the University, in classes spanning a number of disciplines (and I earned my undergraduate degree from an institution that ranks right up there with the most liberal of them all). So there's radicals teaching on college campuses. Big deal. If universities are doing their job properly, an open-minded student will be able to sift through all of the studied opinions presented by faculty members (and yes, all of these opinions are arrived at after years of dedication to one's discipline) and draw their own conclusions.
Ah, but the sub-text of Horowitz's argument is that these professors are using the classroom as a bully pulpit to brainwash and indoctrinate unsuspecting undergraduates into accepting leftist ideologies. But a funny thing happens over the course of Horowitz's book. Not one instance of unprofessional conduct by these professors in the classroom is presented. NOT ONE. In fact, a number of these professors have been commended for their outstanding teaching. [...]
What Horowitz counts on to make his case is the general public's unwillingness to do their own research. Are the professors misquoted? Not at all. But Horowitz depends on the reader not searching out the context in which the statement is made. That makes it that much easier to twist a statement's meaning into some gross caricature of the "evil, anti-American communist professor who is out to brainwash your children and steal your tuition money." All academic writing is full of nuance and hair-splitting that most people don't have the time or the energy with which to deal. Horowitz uses this to his advantage in slandering the academy.
[...]
So here's my challenge. If you absolutely MUST read Horowitz's volume, take the time to read the writings of the professor that he cites as supporting his arguments. I guarantee you'll find work that is provocative (if not always correct), work that will raise certain questions and lead to some interesting discussions - precisely the type of discussions that Horowitz wants to shut down.
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82 of 118 people found the following review helpful:
All sandpaper & no cigar, February 24, 2006
Reviewer:
Comte de Saint Germain (expanding universe) - See all my reviews
Rats! Ees ze American xenophobe again! Ze literary equivalent of Lynne Cheney's Telling the Truth, ech. I shall throw back my black hood, so zat you fix your gaze into my fiery orbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
))))(((Free your mind of Western Anglo Saxon constraints)))(((((
)))))))) ((((Feel your mind expanding))))((((((((( ((((( ))))))))((((shifting~))))((((((((( ))))(((((((((~ shifting)))) (((((((((
))))(((((((((~floating weightless~))))))((((((((( ((((((((( ))))(((((((((~ upon an ocean of thought ~ ))))))((((((((( . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . here birdie, birdie
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No, here. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .here, here! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mrs Cheney, over here
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191 of 240 people found the following review helpful:
Many will be disappointed to be left off, February 24, 2006
Reviewer:
Outraged Republican (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
Isn't writing lists of people you hate meant to be something that you grow out of by the age of 15 or so?
Horowitz appears to be trying to emulate the success of Neo-McCarthyite Ann Coulter. It just won't work. First, Horowitz can manage sloppy scholarship but when it comes to making stuff up his attempts are truly pathetic. [...]
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152 of 209 people found the following review helpful:
Oh no!!!, February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
Bilbo (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews
Look out! The big bad communist professors are out to get you and your children! Ahhhh!
Horowitz's book couldn't be more of an absolutely asinine waste of paper. Not to mention all of the blatant inaccuracies.
You'd need to be having a manic episode to believe half of Horowitz's vitriol.
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174 of 235 people found the following review helpful:
It is your right as an American to read this immoral, lying trash., February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
D. Lockman (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
It is easy to read, I'll give it that. Luckily, I borrowed a copy from a relative and didn't have to buy it. ("No comment" to the relative, who I need to keep on cordial terms, for family/relations reasons).
This book is a steaming collection of unmitigated BS,
lies, and more BS.
I hesitate to call Mr. Horowitz an America-hater, but there is evidence aplenty of it in this book.
However, as much as I disagree with the filth between the covers of this loathsome volume, I still would defend any and every American's right to read it.
In fact, reading it shines a light on the truly evil and malevolent essence of the Radical Right's efforts to destroy all oposing viewpoints to their own narrow ideology in this country.
Our college campuses are in their crosshairs now.
But please, *borrow a copy*, and don't reward the author of such filth by contributing to his royalties.
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118 of 153 people found the following review helpful:
Not worth it, even as a joke, February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
Kyle Schmaus - See all my reviews
looking through this book, just for a laugh didn't even work. Characterized by complete raving and baseless claims, Horowitz comes off as a lunatic. Further reading of horowitz body of work included arguments that blacks "benefitited from slavery". This guy really is a nut
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141 of 179 people found the following review helpful:
It's always the converts who go overboard, February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
jaljohnson (Los Angeles, California USA) - See all my reviews
[...]
This book is mostly a rehash of the previous whines about various leftwing professors, and their supposed abuses. It's not nearly as entertaining as his prior book about his apotheosis, and doesn't really offer anything new or interesting. Just the formulaic list of baddies who I suppose ought to be expunged from University life because for crimes real or imagined. Or maybe they should be put in Malkin-run camps. It was hard to slog through this stuff to get to the larger point, if there is one.
Perhaps there are some Oedipal/Elektra issues derived from the inculcatoin of Communist ideals from his parents underlying his radicalism. I guess I'd be ticked off too if my parents indoctrinated me so thoroughly into a failed ideology.
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116 of 149 people found the following review helpful:
Who is this Horowitz, anyway?, February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
StillLife "hazel" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
How do books like this get written, much less purchased? This book is hard to get through unless you buy into a vast conspiracy on the left to infiltrate the minds of college students. What is interesting to know - and that Horowitz neglects to include in his rag: organizations pushing the Republican agenda are far more prevalent on our college campuses than Democratic organizations. The classroom simply doesn't promote that ideology and that's the missed point when addressing the hubris of this book. If it doesn't walk in lock-step with Horowitz's worldview, then it must be "liberal". When he writes about the overwhelming bias of rightwing talk radio, television and rabid pundits like Coulter, Hannity and O'Reilly then he'll have a legitimate gripe. Otherwise he is just stirring up a bitter pot of nothing much.
Frankly, one star is too much for this propaganda-driven drivel.
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125 of 162 people found the following review helpful:
Just another bitter and miserable offering from Horowitz., February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
C. Sims - See all my reviews
More tedious claptrap from a miserable man with an axe to grind. These people aren't going to stop until we put jesus and a fetus on the one dollar bill. Don't buy this book, unless you know one professor in question, if so. Have them sing it for you. Have a laugh at the expense of bitter ole horowitz
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134 of 172 people found the following review helpful:
Amazon should offer the zero star option, February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
J. Pettit - See all my reviews
Horowitz makes broad conclusions based on anecdotal(even apocryphal) evidence.
It's the sort of book that should be typed in BOLD CAPITAL letters with lots of exclamation points(i.e., loud and angry, but using outrage and noise in place of reason).
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125 of 191 people found the following review helpful:
WoW, February 20, 2006
Reviewer:
J. Marvin "College Reader" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
Wow, this book was such a waste of money. The man goes on a diatribe that really does not logically fit. Maybe he should go back to school and get an education.
A waste of both time and money. Propaganda at its greatest.
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122 of 195 people found the following review helpful:
Semi-Fascist Claptrap, and Funny as Hell, February 19, 2006
Reviewer:
Jesus Chrysler (El Segundo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
It doesn't take the intellect of any of the professors profiled in _The Professors_ to know that this conservative tract is little more than the insane rants of a very troubled man, or possibly his research assistants.
Really, though, one can take two approaches to the book: one can either loathe the book for its inane vulgarity, or enjoy its humor. The book can be read, actually, as a comedic satire. Hopefully those angered by books contents can take the second approach, thus giving the book _some_ use.
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113 of 175 people found the following review helpful:
sad, pathetic right-wing ranting, fundamentally dishonest, February 18, 2006
Reviewer:
A. K. Berg (reston, va.) - See all my reviews
At least Paul Johnson had some wit and style in his The Intellectuals, another screed laying all the blame for what's wrong in the world at the feet of the left. The book does have some moderately amusing snapshots of left-wing nut cases, but when one keeps the magic number of 101 in perspective---over two thousand institutions of higher learning--the "dangerousness" of a few red quacks carries as much potential for harm as the recent "war on Christmas" has on first amendment freedoms.
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103 of 182 people found the following review helpful:
Useless hyperbole, February 17, 2006
Reviewer:
K. Kooiker (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
Horowitz continues his crusade against academics who have the bad taste to disagree with him. Absolute waste of money. Read it in the store if you must; you won't be able to last more than five minutes at a time anyway.
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309 of 392 people found the following review helpful:
A very silly book, dishonest and poorly researched, February 15, 2006
Reviewer:
Melissa D. Aaron "theater historian" (Claremont, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
I read this book because I've been following the debate about "academic freedom" started by the guy who wanted students to tape UCLA professors without their knowledge or permission. Mr. Horowitz actually fired that guy, Andrew Jones, and said that he was a flake, so I was willing to give his book a fair shake.
But no.
I'm afraid that Mr. Jones learned his technique at Horowitz's knee. Almost everything is about activities outside the classroom. I'm concerned that gullible worried parents will think that their kids are getting indoctrinated.
The very silliest entry is one devoted to a professor at Earlham College. Supposedly she has devoted a large share of her time and energy to peace and justice issues and World Studies. Earlham is a Quaker institution. In other words, it's a college with a religious affiliation. And Quaker values happen to include peace and justice--it's central to the faith. And Earlham is famous for its World Studies program. It's dishonest to include that entry in here, because any parent sending a child to Earlham knows full well that they will be taught according to Quaker values. It's exactly like sending a kid to Notre Dame. If I were Catholic and sent my kid to Notre Dame, I'd expect the curriculum to be formed according to Catholic values--same with Earlham College.
So as someone raised with Quaker values and sent to Quaker schools and camps, I object to that particular entry on the grounds of religious discrimination and I challenge Mr. Horowitz to publish a retraction.
I can't really recommend this book, but it may be worth reading if you want to know what kinds of propaganda are being spread about higher ed. If you want to know what is really going on, though, or want to improve things, there are better books to buy and read.
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same old, same old from frothing horowitz, February 14, 2006
Reviewer:
dale morris - See all my reviews
david horowitze has fascinated me ever since i came across his bio, somewhere online. he's the quintessential authoritarian, and his celebrated move from left-wing politics to right-wing politics involved no more than a name change - he went from authoritarian, controlling maoist to authoritarian, controlling fascist, when he discovered that the the people he was backing...well, they weren't that nice to his friends. now, in the name of 'free speech', david hopes to institute control over academic institutions, in the hope that everyone will finally have to agree with his opinions.
fear the man most who claims to wish to cause change. he seldom has good in mind, and power and its uses merely excite him.
the book is the usual litany of garbage, innuendo and fear-mongering. it's an interesting excercise (if one is so inclined)to spend some time debunking it. perhaps someone will. it won't make a difference, the people who are going to buy this dross will buy it whatever is said or done, because it's the political equivalent of a one-hand magazine - it provides both a cast and a crew for the organization of fantasy. they can no more stop themselves buying it than the devoted fetishist can avoid purchasing 'rubber ladies'.
as shills go, p.j. o'rourke is funnier, even these days.
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116 of 244 people found the following review helpful:
Wish he knew how to write, February 12, 2006
A Kid's Review
My mom brought this book home and I just finished reading the intro and some of the profiles. I had to put it down, though, because the writing is so awful. I think much of this book was ghost written by one of the researchers who works for Horowitz. Just wish that guy knew how to write.
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166 of 298 people found the following review helpful:
Dangerous authors..., February 12, 2006
Reviewer:
John F. Bunch (Atchison, KS United States) - See all my reviews
This book could serve as archtypical example of how rhetoric and slanted "journalism" (propoganda) can be used to distort the truth. I am glad that I picked up Horowitz's book because it made me aware of how dangerous he, and the machine that supports as well as promotes his agenda, are to basic democratic principles such as free speech. By distorting the truth and then using television and print outlets to create an interlocking framework of specious facts and arguments, Horowitz actually is damaging the very liberties that he supposedly stands for.
Borrow this book from your library, don't buy it so that Horowitz profits more from your purchase.
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143 of 256 people found the following review helpful:
Ha, yet another useless book , February 12, 2006
Reviewer:
Jeff Scott (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews
I sat and read this book the other day. It is very easy reading. It is hard to imagine what good it's going to do for anyone though, besides, as another reviewer has said, make sure that the "radicals" get yet more attention. I can imagine any one of the professors using this book in their c.v.s as a way to make more money for speaking engagements. "Professor Blahblah has been listed as one of the most dangerous academics in America today.." and so on.
The truth is that virtually none of these people probably will even see nevermind actually teach the youth of America. No one will be forced to take classes with them either, as most of them only teach one or two classes a year and then only to graduate students who should have done their homework and found out what their professors do teach. There's also of course the fact that some of these people's work has been distilled very badly into two or three pages. Some of it reminds me of the joke going around among some of my students: If any of them disagrees with anything any of them say, someone says, "What? You must not love freedom. I bet you don't support the troops." And then everyone laughs. And what's really lost because of this is a real challenge to some of their admittedly hard to swallow notions, many of which are simply made to be provocative.
Not every disagreement need be reason to think the critic is a traitor, but that's what Horowitz's book implies over and over. It's really silly. It's hard to imagine anyone anymore who wouldn't see through it all. Or the only people who will like this book will be the crazies on both sides who are absolutely sure the other side is corrupt and irrational.
And ultimately what seems worse to me is that none of these people have any access to any real political power. They don't have any control over funding for the defense department or medicare or infrastructure. It's like that other book published a while ago that claimed Barbara Streisand was "ruining" America. America is a lot smarter than these guys allow, for all their lauded patriotism.
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191 of 290 people found the following review helpful:
One Star is Too Many, February 4, 2006
Reviewer:
Whorowitz (Chicago) - See all my reviews
This book is filled with outright lies, simple inaccuracies, and willfull misrepresentations of select academics on the left. Characterizations of prolific author Stanley Aronowitz as lazy and Norman Finkelstein as anti-semitic are simply absurd for anyone familiar with the work. What is more the book lumps together liberals with radicals and fails to honestly discuss the distinctions between different often incompatible ideological positions let alone advance serious or even frivilous arguments against the political perspectives. This book will likely be on the discount table and available at a yard sale near you soon enough.
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J_Alfred Prufrock (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
Well what you see if what you get when it comes to David Horowitz and his ex-Marxist ideology, meaning that he kept the repressive parts he does so seem to enjoy. David Horowitz often likes to attack people personally, so why not do it in book form right?
Well in reading this book I learned two very important things about Mr. Horowitz. One he attacks people with the same type of extreme ideology he says he abhors in the "left." He is vicious in his words and extreme in his ideals. I would call him a thinking man's Ann Coulter. Not that he says something of substance, but at least he uses bigger words than allot of his colleagues in the Ministry of Disinformation.
And two he seems to have an axe to grind with allot of people in academics and civil rights. He often bases his attacks in this book off murky evidence and out of context quotes. He attacks all these colleges and does no introspect to colleges like Bob Jones Universities that attack on anyone not voting their ideology as "pagans." And if you think this man doesn't have an extreme, racist point-of-view please read the following:
"If blacks are oppressed in America, why isn't there a black exodus?" - Salon article "Guns don't kill black people, other blacks do" 1999
Seriously? Defend this please I beg of you.
"What about the debt blacks owe to America-to white America-for liberating them from slavery?" - from "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks-and Racist Too," an article in FrontPageMagazine.com, January 3, 2001.
Hmmm...So African Americans owe white America reparations?
"The claim for reparations is premised on the false assumption that only whites have benefited from slavery. If slave labor created wealth for Americans, then obviously it has created wealth for black Americans as well, including the descendants of slaves." - from "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks-and Racist Too," an article in FrontPageMagazine.com, January 3, 2001.
Again I'm not sure what the point of this statement is other than being racist.
"What I've set out to do is to try to restore the educational principles that were in place before the generation of sixties leftists infiltrated the university and corrupted it by transforming it into an ideological platform." City-Journal Winter 2005
Yes Mr. Horowitz please lets go back to those gleeful times of open racism, segregation, and legal wife beating.
I would recommend reading another book like "Higher Education And The Color Line: College Access, Racial Equity, And Social Change" by Gary Orfield or trying thinking for yourself about the world. Be a conservative and a liberal or what I like to call a human being.
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7 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
Tripe by any other name . . ., February 26, 2006
Reviewer:
I don't drink the Kool-Aid (WDC) - See all my reviews
One more bitter uber-conservative hack mad at the world because others can think.
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38 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
Stalinist purges have nothing on Amazon.com!, February 26, 2006
Reviewer:
Mrs. Tarquin Biscuitbarrel (Undisclosed Location) - See all my reviews
I bought and read this book eagerly in the hope that one of my friends of 30+ years, Harriet C. Edwards, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics at California State University at Fullerton, would be included.
She was not. Evidently Mr. Horowitz doesn't speak calculus. Nor does he fully understand the empowering--and by his lights, "highly dangerous" abilities that such mathematic skills--provide to Dr. Edwards' students, most of whom juggle jobs, family responsibilities, or both. In addition, many of the good professor's students are somewhat swarthy: Hispanic, Asian, African-American, etc. They enroll in higher mathematics courses in order to prepare them for careers than bypass swabbing toilets, hotel housekeeping, part-time gigs at Wal-Mart, or assembly-line box-stuffing at Amazon.
Despite my disappointment at Dr. Edwards' omission, I am similarly crestfallen that other highly regarded academics are considered "dangerous" simply because Horowitz says so. Horowitz frowns upon Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan, because Dr. Cole's knowledge of Arabic and of the distressing political situation in Iraq caused him to destroy the wool-gathering fulminations of columnist Jonah Goldberg, who speaks only English, and marginally at best.
Gen. J.C. Christian's first review of this book has been dropped, despite its enthusiastic reception by Amazon's customers. Evidently, Amazon's alarm at the prospect of service-industry workers eventually becoming teachers, engineers, and business professionals was too, too much to be borne. Shame on you. I will buy discount books in the future at CostCo, which pays a living wage to its employees.
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30 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
More of the same from an out of touch idealogue, February 26, 2006
Reviewer:
jake001 (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews
More what you say? After reading I found more:
- lying about liberal america
- racist themes
- lumping of people into convenient groups for Mr. Horowitz to bash
- more hate
- more vitiol
Save your money, buy something worthwhile like "America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction". I think this would provide people with a better insight to what is wrong with folks like Mr. Horowitz.
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50 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
Horowitz, nothing to see here., February 26, 2006
Reviewer:
"rotaslav" - See all my reviews
A brief read standing in the stacks was all that was required for me to wish I could get back the 30 minutes I lost standing there reading.
I remember this from January~
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/01/11/retract
Retractions From David Horowitz - a clip from the web article noted above...
....But as hearings ended in Philadelphia Tuesday, critics of the Academic Bill of Rights were saying that they had scored key points. David Horowitz, the conservative activist who has led the push for the hearings in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, admitted that he had no evidence to back up two of the stories he has told multiple times to back up his charges that political bias is rampant in higher education.
In an interview after the hearing, Horowitz said that his acknowledgements were inconsequential, and he complained about "nit picking" by his critics. But while Horowitz was declaring the hearings "a great victory" for his cause, he lost some powerful stories. For example, Horowitz has said several times that a biology professor at Pennsylvania State University used a class session just before the 2004 election to show the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, but he acknowledged Tuesday that he didn't have any proof that this took place.
In a phone interview, Horowitz said that he had heard about the alleged incident from a legislative staffer and that there was no evidence to back up the claim. He added, however, that "everybody who is familiar with universities knows that there is a widespread practice of professors venting about foreign policy even when their classes aren't about foreign policy" and that the lack of evidence on Penn State doesn't mean there isn't a problem.
"These are nit picking, irrelevant attacks," he said.
Others think that it's quite relevant that Horowitz couldn't back up the example, especially since there have been previous incidents in which his claims about professors have been debunked.
"So much of what he has said previously has been exposed to be lies or distortions that it makes any of his examples questionable," said Jamie Horwitz, a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers. The lack of evidence about the Penn State and other examples "should give this committee and any committee anywhere in the country pause about considering an Academic Bill of Rights," he added. "The bottom line is that there's not a lot of there there."...
Horowitz is what he despises.
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6 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
Hello ..., February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Benj Hellie "Benj Hellie" (For, The Record) - See all my reviews
Horowitz missed the Leiter Reports/For the Record posse. We are way more dangerous than any of those punk ass academics he is so scared of. Hello, like, how clueless can you be!!!
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62 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
Buy it, then burn it, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Zaine Ridling - See all my reviews
Horowitz has been confused for so long that he can't remember when he began hating America. In 'The Professors' he makes claims that is false to all our campus experiences. When read juxtaposed to Howard Dean's "You Have the Power: How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America," you begin to see who's right, and how wrong Horowitz really is.
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20 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
Keeping the Dream Alive: Joe McCarthy and Joseph Goebbels Have a Voice, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Brian Keith O. Hara "bkohatl" (bkohatl) - See all my reviews
I was in the bookstore just glancing at this book, which is a clone of Bernard Goldberg vicious, nasty little Republican hate tome 100 People Screwing Up America. At least Al Franken is original, tells the truth and is witty. All Bernard Goldberg is is cold-blooded, cruel and vicious, but at least he was original in venemous Republican Hate Orgy.
David Horowitz can't even claim that. This book isn't even worth turning into toilet paper.
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0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Sketchy Conservative Credentials, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
The Rear Admiral (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
I agree with the author. Academia is teeming with fancy pants liberals with their uppidy reading and writing skills. I once had a professor who claimed conservative credentials. I almost believed him until he bad-mouthed Hitler and Franco. Sadly I can't rate this book higher than one as the author is frequently lax with the rules of grammar. I lost count of the number of infinitives he split! A true conservative knows rules MUST be followed. Always, and without question. Since I only read books that enforce my worldview, this one left me puzzled and somewhat disappointed.
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32 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
More rightwing claptrap, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Gregory M. Miller "BiggerBill" (Toledo OH) - See all my reviews
Yes, wingnuts, another "review" that you won't like, and claim that is unfair because I haven't read the book. Well, if Richard Mellon Scaife would send me a copy of the thousands that he has already bought, I would be glad to thumb through it before putting it to better use in the bathroom. I have read as much of the book as most of those who gave it five stars, and find the constant whining tiresome.
Oh, and David Horowitz, former darling of the left? Is that on his official bio? The fact that he joined other neo-Stalints in the neo-conservative movement is the left's gain, not the right's.
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Reviewer:
Jeffrey L. Seltzer - See all my reviews
This book is bad. This badly written book oozes badness from every badly written sentence. It is bad beyond all conceivable concepts and notions of badness.
Well, maybe it's not that bad, but Lord it isn't good.
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92 of 119 people found the following review helpful:
McCarthy is alive!, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
J. Gunderson - See all my reviews
I have to admit I disapprove of people voting for things based upon political agenda, whether it be liberal or conservative. So I borrowed the book, read it, but more so than that I did some outside research.
I go to college and find it unusual that people believe that there is this pervasive liberal front going on in our academia. I have never heard a professor in the middle of biology, physics, psychology, philosophy, or any other classes in a differing field ever go on a tangent about politics. Such is an attempt from the uneducated conservative movement, who don't understand the processes of critical thought, to explain why it is intelligence and liberalism correlate.
This witch-hunt book mirrors the efforts of Joseph McCarthy and his brigade to attack, defame, and slander anyone who dare speaks their opposing opinions, and then label such speech "liberal".
Any critical thinker who reads this book will realize Horowitz has never attended the classes, nor engaged in dialogue with the professors he so labels "communist, terrorist-loving traitors", So where does he get his information? Hearsay? Fabrications? Who knows. All I know is that this book out not be read by any conservative for it only inflames their ignorance of academia.
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66 of 87 people found the following review helpful:
Right, left or other - don't waste your time or money., February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Peter Johnson - See all my reviews
This book is yet another in the continuing series of partisan pap currently being churned out to make a quick buck from the faithful. [...]
Horowitz's "The Professors" effort is full of same time of errors that resulted in him having to withdraw his "Farenheit 9/11 screened before class" and "George Bush is a war criminal" claims, both of which he withdrew after acknowledging he had no evidence of either.
[...]
The tone for the work is set by the cover which states "101 academics...happen to be alleged ex-terrorists, racists, murderers, sexual deviants, anti-Semites, and al-Qaeda supporters." No evidence of course, just a nice juicy "alleged" slur to brighten up sales.
Horowitz's premise that "the left" has taken over our institutions of higher learning in a pernicious and secret coup is harmed by his failure to provide an evil prof from either Harvard or Yale.
Strangely enough, however, several of those listed have either bested and/or had run-ins with Horowitz in the past and their entries may perhaps be solely for purposes of revenge.
All in all, a dreadful book that I would ONLY give to your worst enemy, whatever his or her politics may be.
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69 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
The Peril of the Classroom for the Young Conservative, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Commander Cody, JPF (hamilton, ohio) - See all my reviews
David is the Ideological, tentatively male version of Ann Coulter- David is actually better looking than Ann so he has that going for him.
Now, David has a List. He calls his List; "The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America." Bill O'Reilly also has a list but it is apparently only four items long and, therefore, unworthy of a capital "L".
David's List brings to our attention a Doomsday Scenario wherein Crazed College Professors, Hellbent on Wiping Ignorance Off the Face of the Map, Draw Beads on Fragile Future Conservatives who Stumble Innocently into Their Hallow-Halled ALAMUT.
There, through the enchanting words on the Old Man of the Mountain's Chalkboard, they are Stripped of their Certainty and Indoctrinated into the World of the Educated- from the world of the "edjamucated", presumably.
Unfortunately, David fails to mention that, though the Threat may indeed be Real, it is a threat only to He, His Retirement Account, and the Pitifully Small Legacy he will one day leave behind. [...]
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109 of 133 people found the following review helpful:
Cash Grab, February 25, 2006
Reviewer:
Jake Brayker "Jake" (Capital City, USA) - See all my reviews
Academia has a long history of being a bastion for liberal thought, but Horowitz's mistaken premise is that this is a) somehow a conspiracy and b) anything new.
His facts are weak and the book feels like it's just taking shots at low hanging fruit for a quick buck.
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21 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
Horowitz counts on your ignorance, February 24, 2006
Reviewer:
C. Goff "wobblie" (Eugene, OR) - See all my reviews
I'm familiar with a good number of the professors who are, erm... "profiled" in Horowitz's latest screed, and I'll agree with his assessment of many of them. Yep, they're radicals. They challenge sexism, racism, capitalism, U.S. foreign policy, etc., etc.
And this all occurs, shockingly enough, at a univeristy, where one expects a diversity of opinions. And luckily, this diversity is protected by the academy's commitment to academic freedom from [...] Horowitz and his ilk. And yes, I did have conservative professors in the University, in classes spanning a number of disciplines (and I earned my undergraduate degree from an institution that ranks right up there with the most liberal of them all). So there's radicals teaching on college campuses. Big deal. If universities are doing their job properly, an open-minded student will be able to sift through all of the studied opinions presented by faculty members (and yes, all of these opinions are arrived at after years of dedication to one's discipline) and draw their own conclusions.
Ah, but the sub-text of Horowitz's argument is that these professors are using the classroom as a bully pulpit to brainwash and indoctrinate unsuspecting undergraduates into accepting leftist ideologies. But a funny thing happens over the course of Horowitz's book. Not one instance of unprofessional conduct by these professors in the classroom is presented. NOT ONE. In fact, a number of these professors have been commended for their outstanding teaching. [...]
What Horowitz counts on to make his case is the general public's unwillingness to do their own research. Are the professors misquoted? Not at all. But Horowitz depends on the reader not searching out the context in which the statement is made. That makes it that much easier to twist a statement's meaning into some gross caricature of the "evil, anti-American communist professor who is out to brainwash your children and steal your tuition money." All academic writing is full of nuance and hair-splitting that most people don't have the time or the energy with which to deal. Horowitz uses this to his advantage in slandering the academy.
[...]
So here's my challenge. If you absolutely MUST read Horowitz's volume, take the time to read the writings of the professor that he cites as supporting his arguments. I guarantee you'll find work that is provocative (if not always correct), work that will raise certain questions and lead to some interesting discussions - precisely the type of discussions that Horowitz wants to shut down.
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82 of 118 people found the following review helpful:
All sandpaper & no cigar, February 24, 2006
Reviewer:
Comte de Saint Germain (expanding universe) - See all my reviews
Rats! Ees ze American xenophobe again! Ze literary equivalent of Lynne Cheney's Telling the Truth, ech. I shall throw back my black hood, so zat you fix your gaze into my fiery orbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
))))(((Free your mind of Western Anglo Saxon constraints)))(((((
)))))))) ((((Feel your mind expanding))))((((((((( ((((( ))))))))((((shifting~))))((((((((( ))))(((((((((~ shifting)))) (((((((((
))))(((((((((~floating weightless~))))))((((((((( ((((((((( ))))(((((((((~ upon an ocean of thought ~ ))))))((((((((( . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . here birdie, birdie
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No, here. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .here, here! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mrs Cheney, over here
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191 of 240 people found the following review helpful:
Many will be disappointed to be left off, February 24, 2006
Reviewer:
Outraged Republican (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
Isn't writing lists of people you hate meant to be something that you grow out of by the age of 15 or so?
Horowitz appears to be trying to emulate the success of Neo-McCarthyite Ann Coulter. It just won't work. First, Horowitz can manage sloppy scholarship but when it comes to making stuff up his attempts are truly pathetic. [...]
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152 of 209 people found the following review helpful:
Oh no!!!, February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
Bilbo (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews
Look out! The big bad communist professors are out to get you and your children! Ahhhh!
Horowitz's book couldn't be more of an absolutely asinine waste of paper. Not to mention all of the blatant inaccuracies.
You'd need to be having a manic episode to believe half of Horowitz's vitriol.
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174 of 235 people found the following review helpful:
It is your right as an American to read this immoral, lying trash., February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
D. Lockman (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
It is easy to read, I'll give it that. Luckily, I borrowed a copy from a relative and didn't have to buy it. ("No comment" to the relative, who I need to keep on cordial terms, for family/relations reasons).
This book is a steaming collection of unmitigated BS,
lies, and more BS.
I hesitate to call Mr. Horowitz an America-hater, but there is evidence aplenty of it in this book.
However, as much as I disagree with the filth between the covers of this loathsome volume, I still would defend any and every American's right to read it.
In fact, reading it shines a light on the truly evil and malevolent essence of the Radical Right's efforts to destroy all oposing viewpoints to their own narrow ideology in this country.
Our college campuses are in their crosshairs now.
But please, *borrow a copy*, and don't reward the author of such filth by contributing to his royalties.
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118 of 153 people found the following review helpful:
Not worth it, even as a joke, February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
Kyle Schmaus - See all my reviews
looking through this book, just for a laugh didn't even work. Characterized by complete raving and baseless claims, Horowitz comes off as a lunatic. Further reading of horowitz body of work included arguments that blacks "benefitited from slavery". This guy really is a nut
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141 of 179 people found the following review helpful:
It's always the converts who go overboard, February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
jaljohnson (Los Angeles, California USA) - See all my reviews
[...]
This book is mostly a rehash of the previous whines about various leftwing professors, and their supposed abuses. It's not nearly as entertaining as his prior book about his apotheosis, and doesn't really offer anything new or interesting. Just the formulaic list of baddies who I suppose ought to be expunged from University life because for crimes real or imagined. Or maybe they should be put in Malkin-run camps. It was hard to slog through this stuff to get to the larger point, if there is one.
Perhaps there are some Oedipal/Elektra issues derived from the inculcatoin of Communist ideals from his parents underlying his radicalism. I guess I'd be ticked off too if my parents indoctrinated me so thoroughly into a failed ideology.
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116 of 149 people found the following review helpful:
Who is this Horowitz, anyway?, February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
StillLife "hazel" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
How do books like this get written, much less purchased? This book is hard to get through unless you buy into a vast conspiracy on the left to infiltrate the minds of college students. What is interesting to know - and that Horowitz neglects to include in his rag: organizations pushing the Republican agenda are far more prevalent on our college campuses than Democratic organizations. The classroom simply doesn't promote that ideology and that's the missed point when addressing the hubris of this book. If it doesn't walk in lock-step with Horowitz's worldview, then it must be "liberal". When he writes about the overwhelming bias of rightwing talk radio, television and rabid pundits like Coulter, Hannity and O'Reilly then he'll have a legitimate gripe. Otherwise he is just stirring up a bitter pot of nothing much.
Frankly, one star is too much for this propaganda-driven drivel.
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125 of 162 people found the following review helpful:
Just another bitter and miserable offering from Horowitz., February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
C. Sims - See all my reviews
More tedious claptrap from a miserable man with an axe to grind. These people aren't going to stop until we put jesus and a fetus on the one dollar bill. Don't buy this book, unless you know one professor in question, if so. Have them sing it for you. Have a laugh at the expense of bitter ole horowitz
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134 of 172 people found the following review helpful:
Amazon should offer the zero star option, February 23, 2006
Reviewer:
J. Pettit - See all my reviews
Horowitz makes broad conclusions based on anecdotal(even apocryphal) evidence.
It's the sort of book that should be typed in BOLD CAPITAL letters with lots of exclamation points(i.e., loud and angry, but using outrage and noise in place of reason).
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125 of 191 people found the following review helpful:
WoW, February 20, 2006
Reviewer:
J. Marvin "College Reader" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
Wow, this book was such a waste of money. The man goes on a diatribe that really does not logically fit. Maybe he should go back to school and get an education.
A waste of both time and money. Propaganda at its greatest.
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122 of 195 people found the following review helpful:
Semi-Fascist Claptrap, and Funny as Hell, February 19, 2006
Reviewer:
Jesus Chrysler (El Segundo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
It doesn't take the intellect of any of the professors profiled in _The Professors_ to know that this conservative tract is little more than the insane rants of a very troubled man, or possibly his research assistants.
Really, though, one can take two approaches to the book: one can either loathe the book for its inane vulgarity, or enjoy its humor. The book can be read, actually, as a comedic satire. Hopefully those angered by books contents can take the second approach, thus giving the book _some_ use.
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113 of 175 people found the following review helpful:
sad, pathetic right-wing ranting, fundamentally dishonest, February 18, 2006
Reviewer:
A. K. Berg (reston, va.) - See all my reviews
At least Paul Johnson had some wit and style in his The Intellectuals, another screed laying all the blame for what's wrong in the world at the feet of the left. The book does have some moderately amusing snapshots of left-wing nut cases, but when one keeps the magic number of 101 in perspective---over two thousand institutions of higher learning--the "dangerousness" of a few red quacks carries as much potential for harm as the recent "war on Christmas" has on first amendment freedoms.
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103 of 182 people found the following review helpful:
Useless hyperbole, February 17, 2006
Reviewer:
K. Kooiker (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
Horowitz continues his crusade against academics who have the bad taste to disagree with him. Absolute waste of money. Read it in the store if you must; you won't be able to last more than five minutes at a time anyway.
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309 of 392 people found the following review helpful:
A very silly book, dishonest and poorly researched, February 15, 2006
Reviewer:
Melissa D. Aaron "theater historian" (Claremont, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
I read this book because I've been following the debate about "academic freedom" started by the guy who wanted students to tape UCLA professors without their knowledge or permission. Mr. Horowitz actually fired that guy, Andrew Jones, and said that he was a flake, so I was willing to give his book a fair shake.
But no.
I'm afraid that Mr. Jones learned his technique at Horowitz's knee. Almost everything is about activities outside the classroom. I'm concerned that gullible worried parents will think that their kids are getting indoctrinated.
The very silliest entry is one devoted to a professor at Earlham College. Supposedly she has devoted a large share of her time and energy to peace and justice issues and World Studies. Earlham is a Quaker institution. In other words, it's a college with a religious affiliation. And Quaker values happen to include peace and justice--it's central to the faith. And Earlham is famous for its World Studies program. It's dishonest to include that entry in here, because any parent sending a child to Earlham knows full well that they will be taught according to Quaker values. It's exactly like sending a kid to Notre Dame. If I were Catholic and sent my kid to Notre Dame, I'd expect the curriculum to be formed according to Catholic values--same with Earlham College.
So as someone raised with Quaker values and sent to Quaker schools and camps, I object to that particular entry on the grounds of religious discrimination and I challenge Mr. Horowitz to publish a retraction.
I can't really recommend this book, but it may be worth reading if you want to know what kinds of propaganda are being spread about higher ed. If you want to know what is really going on, though, or want to improve things, there are better books to buy and read.
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same old, same old from frothing horowitz, February 14, 2006
Reviewer:
dale morris - See all my reviews
david horowitze has fascinated me ever since i came across his bio, somewhere online. he's the quintessential authoritarian, and his celebrated move from left-wing politics to right-wing politics involved no more than a name change - he went from authoritarian, controlling maoist to authoritarian, controlling fascist, when he discovered that the the people he was backing...well, they weren't that nice to his friends. now, in the name of 'free speech', david hopes to institute control over academic institutions, in the hope that everyone will finally have to agree with his opinions.
fear the man most who claims to wish to cause change. he seldom has good in mind, and power and its uses merely excite him.
the book is the usual litany of garbage, innuendo and fear-mongering. it's an interesting excercise (if one is so inclined)to spend some time debunking it. perhaps someone will. it won't make a difference, the people who are going to buy this dross will buy it whatever is said or done, because it's the political equivalent of a one-hand magazine - it provides both a cast and a crew for the organization of fantasy. they can no more stop themselves buying it than the devoted fetishist can avoid purchasing 'rubber ladies'.
as shills go, p.j. o'rourke is funnier, even these days.
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116 of 244 people found the following review helpful:
Wish he knew how to write, February 12, 2006
A Kid's Review
My mom brought this book home and I just finished reading the intro and some of the profiles. I had to put it down, though, because the writing is so awful. I think much of this book was ghost written by one of the researchers who works for Horowitz. Just wish that guy knew how to write.
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166 of 298 people found the following review helpful:
Dangerous authors..., February 12, 2006
Reviewer:
John F. Bunch (Atchison, KS United States) - See all my reviews
This book could serve as archtypical example of how rhetoric and slanted "journalism" (propoganda) can be used to distort the truth. I am glad that I picked up Horowitz's book because it made me aware of how dangerous he, and the machine that supports as well as promotes his agenda, are to basic democratic principles such as free speech. By distorting the truth and then using television and print outlets to create an interlocking framework of specious facts and arguments, Horowitz actually is damaging the very liberties that he supposedly stands for.
Borrow this book from your library, don't buy it so that Horowitz profits more from your purchase.
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143 of 256 people found the following review helpful:
Ha, yet another useless book , February 12, 2006
Reviewer:
Jeff Scott (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews
I sat and read this book the other day. It is very easy reading. It is hard to imagine what good it's going to do for anyone though, besides, as another reviewer has said, make sure that the "radicals" get yet more attention. I can imagine any one of the professors using this book in their c.v.s as a way to make more money for speaking engagements. "Professor Blahblah has been listed as one of the most dangerous academics in America today.." and so on.
The truth is that virtually none of these people probably will even see nevermind actually teach the youth of America. No one will be forced to take classes with them either, as most of them only teach one or two classes a year and then only to graduate students who should have done their homework and found out what their professors do teach. There's also of course the fact that some of these people's work has been distilled very badly into two or three pages. Some of it reminds me of the joke going around among some of my students: If any of them disagrees with anything any of them say, someone says, "What? You must not love freedom. I bet you don't support the troops." And then everyone laughs. And what's really lost because of this is a real challenge to some of their admittedly hard to swallow notions, many of which are simply made to be provocative.
Not every disagreement need be reason to think the critic is a traitor, but that's what Horowitz's book implies over and over. It's really silly. It's hard to imagine anyone anymore who wouldn't see through it all. Or the only people who will like this book will be the crazies on both sides who are absolutely sure the other side is corrupt and irrational.
And ultimately what seems worse to me is that none of these people have any access to any real political power. They don't have any control over funding for the defense department or medicare or infrastructure. It's like that other book published a while ago that claimed Barbara Streisand was "ruining" America. America is a lot smarter than these guys allow, for all their lauded patriotism.
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191 of 290 people found the following review helpful:
One Star is Too Many, February 4, 2006
Reviewer:
Whorowitz (Chicago) - See all my reviews
This book is filled with outright lies, simple inaccuracies, and willfull misrepresentations of select academics on the left. Characterizations of prolific author Stanley Aronowitz as lazy and Norman Finkelstein as anti-semitic are simply absurd for anyone familiar with the work. What is more the book lumps together liberals with radicals and fails to honestly discuss the distinctions between different often incompatible ideological positions let alone advance serious or even frivilous arguments against the political perspectives. This book will likely be on the discount table and available at a yard sale near you soon enough.
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