Wesley,

Thank you for addressing the bibliography debate.   I personally interpreted
the e-mail to be typical of correspondence between university professors.  I
worked for seven years at a major university as a lecturer, and was copied
on e-mail discussions with a similar tone and approach.  However, I think it
is a good idea to minimize the extent of it due to the diverse audience of
the Forum.

Best regards and with appreciation,

Gail Levitt


-----Original Message-----
From: Wesley Britton <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, July 24, 2001 12:56 PM
Subject: newer Forum members


>Judging from postings to me privately and on this Forum, I see a need to
>address a more important matter than a long out-dated controversy.
>
>Several folks stated they now feel reluctant to post questions or make
>comments in the light of the heavy-duty "war horses" responses to queries.
>I deeply hope this doesn't happen.  This issue has arisen before with some
>old
>types complaining about high school students asking for term paper help to
>those who want no discussions at all and simply want to read scholarly
>information.  From time to time, lively discussions do erupt over any
number
>of matters, and no one should feel they are not welcome to pose questions
or
>contribute to the debate.  Sure, some questions may have been asked before,
>and repeatedly, and sometimes referring such questions to our Forum
archives
>is a good response.  But I hope no non-academic or newbie to the profession
>will ever pull back from honest questions or responses to them. Asking what
>definitive books are out there was a perfectly valid question and resulted
>in the most engaging discussion we've had in ages.  Thanks for asking.
>
>And I thank those who observed that the central point John and I were
trying
>to make is that we were telling a general reader why we're cautious in the
>books to recommend.  Controversy will occur time and time again and there's
>nothing wrong with that.  We are, after all, the champions of HUCKLEBERRY
>FINN.