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Dear Colleagues, 
 
As we all know, there once was text book entitled the Evolution of Economic Thought .  I
believe it is still published and may be in its 5th edition.
 
The early editions stated that it was written by Jacob Oser and others.  Indeed, at one
point 3rd edition, William C. Blanchfield's name was on the cover. At some point Jacob
Oser passed away and S. Bruce continued the enterprise of
revising and reissuing the book---hence it is now in its 5th edition. 
 
I have not seen the 5th edition myself.  Rumor has it that Oser's name was dropped by the
publisher so that the book is no longer written by Oser.   The rumor continues that this
is "good practice" and that the decision to delete
Oser's name was made by the publisher for "good reasons" as explained in the front matter
to the book.
 
Is it possible that the author of a book can stop being the author of a book because
he/she is dead?  Can it be done while he/she is alive?   (This reminds me of my socks that
have so many patches over time that at some point I have
trouble deciding if they are still the same pair of socks?  How about the family car with
its collisions and fender replacements, etc.)
 
Now, finally I come to a related but important query.  Assuming that there are
circumstances under which a coauthor's name may be dropped from a text-book that is
undergoing evolutionary changes, what are those circumstances?  Is this a matter that we
feel should be left to the publishers?  . . . the coauthors?  . . . the family
representative?
 
Other questions that come to mind are:  Under what circumstances can an coauthor's name be
dropped from a scholarly book?  Consider any famous book in the history of thought that
has been coauthored.  Several come to mind but let us assume we have a book written by A
and B and then 10 years later, A passes away and B takes on a coauthor C.  Can B and C
claim that the changes that they have made in the most recent edition are so extensive
that it is accepted academic practice to delete's A's name from the title page?  (Should
some of us reissue Marshall's Principles, make extensive changes and then delete his name?
In what sense would it remain a subsequent edition of that same work?)
 
I am motivated by a situation in which I am considering reviewing a non-text book work in
which an original coauthor's name was dropped for "good reasons."  As a reviewer I feel
morally compelled to review what those "good reasons" were since I am quite certain that
the deleted coauthor-- the A in my example above --- would have balked had he been alive
to see this happen.
 
I am having trouble deciding the propriety of just such a situation as the A, B and C
abstraction laid out above.  Under what conditions should I feel comfortable in my role as
a book reviewer with the practice of the original
author's name being dropped in a revised edition of that "same" work?  Should a
distinction be made between text-book and scholarly book when deciding the propriety of
such a delection?  When is it unethical to delete a coauthor's name after he/she is dead?
 
Suppose the administrator of the estate of deceased Mr. A, accepts $250 dollars and
(therefore) decides that A's name can be deleted from all subsequent editions of that
work, shouldn't we (the self-proclaimed archivists) put the
name back on the work? 
 
Shouldn't historians of the discipline have some special knowledge and insight that might
help us actually set standards for this practice?  Can we learn from how the deletion
practice has been done in the past? Any other examples besides the Oser text example?  Any
thoughts from the group would be greatly appreciated.
 
Anyone wishing to communicate with me off the list about this issue is welcomed to do so
as well.
 
Back to grading the midterms. . . . 
 
Laurence Moss 
 
 
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