Review by Booklist Review
Weidlich's focus is a narrow one: the controversy that swirled around the City College of New York's 1940 offer of a teaching position to Bertrand Russell. But the battle over the Russell appointment involves such a fascinating cast of characters--among them, Russell himself, the city's Episcopal bishop, Fiorello LaGuardia, Tammany Hall functionaries, Albany legislators, and professors and students of various political stripes--that this small story casts light on larger (and later) issues. The campaign against permitting the British philosopher to corrupt New York students' minds was aggressive, drawing support from religious leaders (and followers) of a number of denominations; legislators moved beyond concern about Russell to investigate subversive activity in the schools, ultimately dismissing 20 teachers (11 others resigned). Russell never did teach at CCNY (and remained bitter about the college's weak response to the campaign against him). "Another battle in religion's war on science," the Russell affair also constituted, Weidlich maintains, a serious "disagree[ment] about the role of education in a democracy." Mary Carroll
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
