April 11, 2008

An 'Unreasonable' Critique of a Book on China

To the Editor:

Gregory Clark's essay on Giovanni Arrighi's Adam Smith in Beijing ("China as the Antidote to Oppression and Exploitation?," The Chronicle Review, March 14) includes some empirically baseless refutations and sweeping and offensive statements about the putative "sad state of intellectual development in sociology departments." This is, essentially, a lazy critique of Arrighi's ideas and evidence. Clark's review is both unreasonable and rude.

Even if one disagrees