Abraham Lincoln statues

[Rob Wick]

David,

First, I'm not really sure where you get the idea that Wilentz (or McPherson, for that matter) is my "favorite Lincoln author." I've never said that. I don't know that I have a favorite.

As to your request, I also have never said I had an objection to their criticism of the 1619 Project. My whole objection to any of this is that it is a tempest in a teapot. With a pandemic killing thousands every day and infecting millions more, people (myself included) being out of work for months, an economy in shambles and a would-be Mussolini in the White House, the 1619 Project isn't even on my radar right now. The only criticism I have ever had of Wilentz is that he sometimes is overly critical of popular historians, although he certainly isn't the only academic who has that problem.

I respect the fact that you have strong feelings about it. That's certainly your prerogative. In another day and age this might actually cause me to care about it. I don't.

Best
Rob

P.S. My whole point about the Pulitzers is that even people who read a lot have no earthly idea who wins them. No one in the general public is going to look at Nikole Hannah-Jones and say "well, I would have questioned her, but she won the Pulitzer, so she must know what she's talking about.'