Rollo Tomasi wrote:Runtu wrote:Tom wrote:I noticed the following comment last week on the MAD boards:
"[Will Bagley] and I were members of the same LDS-Bookshelf list for some time; that list was dominated by persons hostile to the Church's view of things. I repeatedly prodded Bagley for answers to questions. He would just insult me and refuse to engage. For instance, I pointed out to him that he was a Huntington Library scholar, and contained within the massacre files there is a letter from John D. Lee's lawyer indicating that the lawyer was going to fictionalize Lee's confession to make it sell better. I asked Bagley whether he had seen that, and whether he thought it was worth mentioning in his book since he cited so much and frequently to Lee's confession. Bagley just called me a hack and a stooge."
We're all quite familiar with Bob's take on that statement by Lee's lawyer.
There's a long discussion here. You decide who is fictionalizing.
Bagley can be a bit testy by nature. I remember sending an email to him about an error in his book. Let's just say he didn't take it well, and used every foul word available to tell me so. But after his initial knee-jerk reaction, he actually became quite cordial and admitted the error.
As for Bob's message about Bagley on MAD, I recall (in the thread you link above) that Bob pooh-poohed my posts by saying Bagley never complained about the butchered quote from the Bishop letter, so why should I. Pretty weak response, in my opinion, but Bob did eventually come around and admit that he screwed up. My only question is whether Turley will make the same mistake in his forthcoming book.
My impression of Turley, based on his book regarding the Mark Hofmann affair, is that he (i.e., Turley) is more of a spin doctor than a legit, open-minded scholar. As for Bob, he tried very hard to elude my badgering for a very long time indeed. Once I finally got him to post the letter, his deception was there for all to see, and it seemed clear that he was quite embarrassed (hence his anti-pseudonymity campaign). We'll have to wait and see, but if I were to wager on this, I would guess that Turley is going to screw up. Basically, I think we are waiting for a bomb to go off. I will be interested to see how the apologists react.