Two noon talks.

Volokh Conspirator Jim Lindgren will give a talk at the UW Law School at noon today. The subject is the academic fraud controversy about the book Arming America. The Federalist Society is hosting the event and providing free food. Room 3247.

Alternatively, you can go to the Lubar Faculty Library at 12:15 today and hear William B. Turner giver a talk titled "Lobbying the Supreme Court: The Case of Ronald Reagan and Anthony Kennedy on Lesbian/Gay Civil Rights." (One conclusion: "Reagan was more a libertarian than a traditionalist conservative with respect to lesbian/gay civil rights.")

Both sound interesting. I'm going to the Lindgren talk.

UPDATE: Jim Lindgren gave a scintillating talk. Quite aside from the specific problem of Michael Bellesiles's book, which he dissected, it made me worry about all scholarship -- about whether there is a much more general sort of behavior -- not just among historians, but among all academics -- of embracing and protecting those who say what they want to believe is true.

ANOTHER UPDATE: My colleague Gordon Smith was at the talk too. Here are his comments.