Praise and Criticism
Howard Sachar sees Karsh is the "preeminent scholar-spokesman of the Revisionist (politically-rightist) Movement in Zionism." Political commentator Daniel Pipes described him as "the preeminent historian of the modern Middle East writing today."
Benny Morris called Karsh's article "a mélange of distortions, half-truths, and plain lies that vividly demonstrates his profound ignorance of both the source material (...) and the history of the Zionist-Arab conflict." Reviewing Fabricating Israeli History, Morris said that Karsh belabors minor points while ignoring the main pieces of evidence.
The political scientist Ian Lustick said Karsh's writing in Fabricating Israeli History was malevolent and his analysis, erratic and sloppy.
Yezid Sayigh, Professor of Middle East Studies, wrote that " is simply not what he makes himself out to be, a trained historian (nor political/social scientist)." Karsh accused Sayigh of a "misleading misrepresentation of my scholarly background" and retorted that Sayigh's remarks were "not a scholarly debate on facts and theses but a character assassination couched in high pseudo-academic rhetoric".
Read more about this topic: Efraim Karsh
Famous quotes containing the words praise and, praise and/or criticism:
“Women are hard and proud and stubborn-hearted,
Their heads being turned with praise and flattery;
And that is why their lovers are afraid
To tell them a plain story.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Our manners have been corrupted by communication with the saints. Our hymn-books resound with a melodious cursing of God and enduring Him forever. One would say that even the prophets and redeemers had rather consoled the fears than confirmed the hopes of man. There is nowhere recorded a simple and irrepressible satisfaction with the gift of life, any memorable praise of God.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The aim of all commentary on art now should be to make works of art—and, by analogy, our own experience—more, rather than less, real to us. The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is, even that it is what it is, rather than to show what it means.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)