The sudden appearance during the last year of cover stories in The New Republic and U.S. News and World Report about "political correctness" and "revisionist history" -- now meaning the presentation of a view of history that differs from the dominant perspective -- is no coincidence. In a recent column in Time, Charles Krauthammer, a New Republic editor, tied together the previously unlinked strands of political correctness, multiculturalism, re-examination of Columbus' contribution, and the Left's desire to shape opinion, giving ammunition to the argument that the "PC" discussion is primarily a political manipulation of the media.
And so, as the debate on political correctness rages, we will examine the literature that fuels this discussion.
A Rearview Mirror on the World
Although according to the index he only uses the term "politically correct" once in his book, Dinesh D'Souza furthered his already impressive career (for one so young) with the publication of Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus (Free Press, 1991, $19.95, cloth) just as attacking political correctness came in vogue. Drawing from his undergraduate experience at Dartmouth -- where he helped to co-found the conservative and controversial Dartmouth Review -- D'Souza addresses what he considers to be the destabilization of American academic institutions by radical minorities and feminists.
I had anticipated reading this book for some time. From all early accounts, it was to be a monumental work, combining the finest in research and prose. When I finally had the opportunity to read it, I was disappointed on both counts. D'Souza has accumulated enough information for a healthy -- even important and interesting -- magazine article. But it's a book instead, and the clever chapter titles only serve to make the table of contents more interesting than the text itself.
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