This has been the summer of discontent with David Barton. First, in a poll taken by History News Network, Barton\u2019s newest work, The Jefferson Lies, topped the list of \u201cleast credible history works in print.\u201d The same work met a unanimous chorus of refutations from Jefferson public humanities scholar and radio personality Clay Jenkinson, from religious historians ranging from Martin Marty to John Fea, and (in the full length work Getting Jefferson Right) from Grove City College professors Warren Throckmorton and Michael Coulter.<\/p>\n
Barton himself ascribes the motivations of his critics to either jealousy (because his books sell so well, especially in the homeschooler market), or \u201cliberalism,\u201d a term that evidently takes in everyone who dares take issue with him, from evangelical historians to \u201cdeconstructionists.\u201d<\/p>\n
I weighed in here on Barton both last year and more recently here\u2014in the latter, expressing my skepticism of whether refutations would have any effect on someone whose work was basically part of an entrepreneurial rather than a scholarly enterprise.<\/p>\n
On that latter point, it appears (to my delight) that I was wrong, at least in part. The tide has turned, evidently, because of a pileup of criticisms from within Barton\u2019s own cocoon. <\/p>\n