January 12, 2001

A Footnote Taken Out of Context

To the Editor:

I am desperately trying to prevent my family from seeing the November 24 issue of The Chronicle, in which M. Steven Fish pillories my book Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia ("Is America to Blame? Two Scholars Debate 'Failed Crusade,' a New Book on Post-Communist Russia," The Review, November 24).

My reason isn't that Fish dislikes every aspect of Failed Crusade. ("This book fails, and it fails miserably -- as social science, as