Good grief!

Susan Bailey
Co-author 
The Twain Shall Meet
Greenville, SC
864 238-5702


Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

<div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Kevin Mac Donnell <[log in to unmask]> </div><div>Date:11/17/2014  3:03 PM  (GMT-05:00) </div><div>To: [log in to unmask] </div><div>Cc:  </div><div>Subject: A Response from the Reviewer re Mark Twain's America </div><div>
</div>The letter from Harry L. Katz and Tom Wiener (both retired from the =
Library of Congress) in response to my review of their book, Mark =
Twain=E2=80=99s America (by =E2=80=9CHarry L Katz and the Library of =
Congress=E2=80=9D) arrived in my mailbox while I was on the road and =
unable to spare a moment to reply; hence the slight delay.

What I see in that letter is a cautiously worded expression of regret =
but not an apology. This reviewer does agree that this matter may be =
regarded merely as a situation in which a source was =E2=80=9Cmistakenly =
omitted from [their] Bibliography and Acknowledgements.=E2=80=9D=20

This 244p. book has perhaps 110pp. of actual text (excluding the copious =
illustrations, the many extended quotes, the preface by James =
Billington, the foreword by Lewis Lapham, and the 8pp. index). In those =
approximately 110pp. are more than 100 factual errors and more than 400 =
sentences and phrases copied verbatim from at least four copyrighted =
sources (the source count has doubled since I wrote my review).

Their letter concludes that the authors wish to =E2=80=9Cmove forward to =
make [their] Twain book the very best it can be.=E2=80=9D This reviewer =
does not think a book so freighted with the intellectual property of =
others and burdened with so much misinformation can move forward at all. =
   =20

Kevin Mac Donnell=20

Reviewer of Mark Twain=E2=80=99s America

http://www.twainweb.net/reviews/KatzLOC.html