Forgive me for using the terms "conservatives, centrists, and liberals"--I
was responding to someone else's reference to "American liberals" who
believe this or that.

I agree that these political designations (not "stereotypes") are slippery
things of limited utility, and I affirm that they tell us nothing about
the quality of history any individual so designated may be able to
produce.

Douglas Deal
Professor of History (on leave 2002-2003)
State University of New York at Oswego
Oswego, NY 13126
[log in to unmask]




On Sat, 8 Mar 2003 [log in to unmask] wrote:

>
>        By the way, what does the fact a historian is conservative, "centrist"
> or liberal have to do with the quality of his/her scholarship.  A number of
> people continue to attempt to qualify, and apparently legitimize, someone's
> position by assigning some political label to him or her.  I don't get that.
>  I don't put much credence in stereotypes (educated people like me don't
> stereotype like those dumb uneducated people).
>

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