National (In-)Security: Fifty Notable American Espionage Novels: 4-5.

Avallone, Michael.  Shoot it Again, Sam.  New York: Curtis, 1972. One of the most prolific novelists of the post-war era. Michael Avallone wrote novels, usually published as paperback originals, in almost every popular genre and under a veritable catalog of pseudonyms.  He wrote so much that even he could not keep track of everything he…

National (In-)Security: Fifty Notable American Espionage Novels: 1-3.

Aarons, Edward Sidney.  Assignment to Disaster.  New York: Fawcett, 1955. This novel is the first of more than forty featuring San Durrell, a C.I.A. operative whose assignments take him to all corners of the world.  The most conspicuous gimmick of the series is that every title begins with the word “Assignment.”  Aarons was so prolific…

Coming to Stay: Teaching Angelou

Some books just lend themselves to the classroom. They’ve sufficient complexity, wit, style, and gravitas to carry students in the myriad directions students like to wander as they learn. Though they can be broken down, they can’t be broken, “formulated, sprawling on a pin,” killed through close reading. No matter what you do to them,…

University of Oregon's Academic Freedom Policy Approved

University of Oregon President Michael Gottfredson has signed a new policy protecting academic freedom, which is being called one of the best policies in the country for defending academic freedom. The passage of this policy also refutes the false notion that academic unions undermine policy-making by a faculty senate. In this case, the AAUP/AFT union president chaired…

"Trigger Warnings" on Campus

By Bill Ayers (reposted from billayers.org) The call for “trigger warnings”—a recent censorious trend gaining traction on American college campuses—is designed to alert students of any potentially troubling, unsettling, or upsetting course materials. The impetus is benign enough, and the context includes the important recent mobilization to deal seriously with epidemic levels of rape and…

"They May be Flying Machine Advocates"

The American conception of academic freedom arose with the Progressive Era in the 1890s primarily because of social scientists who advocated for reforms that negatively affected financial interests. The press – muckrakers and establishment papers – actively participated in the debate over academic freedom that took place during that time. The attention of the press sometimes helped professors…