Kissinger Proved Right Once Again *

Ed directs attention to an academic kerfuffle raised when a Chicago attorney thought something was off about Frank Sulloway and his book Born to Rebel, which attempted to provide a scientific basis for the importance of birth order, or as the book puts it, "the personalities of siblings vary because they adopt different strategies in the universal quest for parental favor." An editor who was willing to print the amateur analysis soon felt Sulloway's wrath:

"I am prepared to take any legal steps that are necessary to protect [my] reputation from potential libel. . . . It would be unfortunate if your decision to publish Townsend's manuscript in its present form plunges you and your journal into serious legal difficulties.''

Eventually, the article was edited down to something Sulloway only finds "wrongheaded," but not before he threatened to file misconduct charges against the editor.

* About university politics being "so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small," that is.