Quote:
|
In the acknowledgements we see: "All of these authors and experts agreed to meet with me on my trips to their city, giving generously of their time and knowledge during our long conversations." This includes reference Janet Kitz (mistakenly spelled as "Katz" in this section). This gives me some hope that, however much it may appear to be excess copying/reference to Kitz's work, it has still found acceptance by Kitz - and if true, that's good enough.
|
I wish I shared your optimism,
gmw! Janet Kitz was born in 1930, so by the time Bacon visited her, assuming he did, she was well into her eighties. I doubt she would have read his manuscript and approved it. Not getting her name right doesn't help either, but of course that could just be a typo that was missed.
On the question of this book being found more offensive than
The Radium Girls, my feelings about the latter were of irritation at the "fictional" bits of people shrugging their shoulders or smoothing down their hair. I didn't have the impression that Moore was distorting history or taking chunks of others' research wholesale.
However, I must admit that I haven't done a comparison with another book on the subject, as I have done in reading Kitz's book. I felt the need to read what is clearly the definitive text on the Halifax Explosion for the very reason that I found so much to question in Bacon's book.
Good point
issybird on the subtitle possibly being a contribution by the publisher. It could be so, but it does smack of Bacon's exaggerations and over-the-top approach.