March 24, 2000

Charge of Plagiarism in Lincoln Biography

To the Editor:

In your balanced, fair-minded article on The Journal of American History's refusal to publish my review alleging plagiarism in John C. Waugh's Reelecting Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency, you note that "Mr. Burlingame's review is hardly vague. It consists mostly of 12 passages from Mr. Waugh's book, each followed by nearly identical excerpts from writings on Lincoln by other authors" ("Hot Type," February 18). Your readers might like