Big Green

To the Editors of the Crimson:

I found Paul Duke, Jr.'s windy (approximately 2000 word) review of my book, "Poisoned Ivy," very entertaining.

Mr. Duke goes to great length to call into question the accuracy of the opening chapter, which recounts a particular event in which I was attacked and, in fact, bitten by a Dartmouth College official for distributing copies of The Dartmouth Review. But in his zeal to score a hit (or perhaps in his frustration at not being able to) Mr. Duke ends up misinforming his readers. He makes the following assertion: "What Mr. Hart does not mention anywhere in his book, however, is that the administrator was slapped with a week's suspension from work, a court imposed fine and probation."

I enclose for Mr. Duke's edification photocopies of the pertinent text of my book, which reads as follows: "Hanover Special Justice John I. Boswell... found him (the administrator) guilty of assault, fined him $250, and put him on three months probation. The college administration suspended Smith for ten days.

It would be difficult to state this information any more clearly. And, given then [sic] fact that this text appears on the first and second pages of chapter one, it's hard to see how Mr. Duke could have missed it.

I will not go on to enumerate the many misspellings, grammatical mistakes, misrepresentations, and additional factual errors strewn throughout Mr. Duke's review, as I do not wish to be as wordy as he. But his writings and scholarship do make one wonder about the state of the liberal arts education at Harvard. Perhaps English is not Mr. Duke's first language. That would explain shot. Benjamin Hart   Author of Poisoned Ivy