Confirming What I Know

This little tidbit is much less about testimony on exploitation of Alaskan oil reserves than about the ego of a certifiable asshole of the left. Read the story, but then watch the video:

Historian Takes Umbrage in Hearing

Regular readers here know that I don't commonly refer to those I disagree with politically in the term I applied in the first paragraph. In this instance I make an exception based upon personal experience.

Many of you have read Palace Cobra, my memoir about the last days of the Vietnam air war over the North. Some of you are aware that the book was first contracted to Smithsonian Institution Press who published When Thunder Rolled. Along the way the staff I had worked with so harmoniously on the first book was replaced by a new agenda and a new editor.

In short order my work was modified significantly. The introductory poem I used to highlight the fighter pilot attitude was deleted as risque. The photo section was excised as too expensive. The title was changed to something that sounded more like a black socks and Lone Ranger mask porn movie. The cover art was culled from a cliche video game.

When the catalog of advance publications was published for marketing to book-sellers, the work was characterized as a tale of impending mutiny by dissastified and disillusioned pilots offended by demands of their government to fly "secret" missions into Laos and Cambodia. The characterization was promoted and the book was to be touted by "noted historian, Douglas Brinkley."

I called the publisher, not my editor, and expressed to him that clearly there was no "secret" war, there was no disillusionment, and that my reputation among peers and the public would be severely slandered by such a characterization. I also threatened law suit should Professor Brinkley come anywhere near a sponsored review of my book.

Eventually, Smithsonian defaulted on the contractual publication timeline. I read the fine print, reclaimed my manuscript, retained my advance, and have since enjoyed a satisfying working relationship with St. Martin's Press.

Mr. Brinkley's umbrage before Congress confirms my estimation of the man.