Francis Wheen - Factbites

Francis Wheen - Factbites
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Topic: Francis Wheen

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In the News (Sun 3 Jun 12)

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	washingtonpost.com: Balderdashing Into Doom
		Both the glib title and long subtitle of Francis Wheen's new book might lead casual browsers to expect an indecorous, invective-filled rant, of the sort lucratively sent down the publishing pipelines by Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Al Franken and other outsize dispensers of televisual wisdom.
		Wheen, the deputy editor of England's satirical fortnightly Private Eye and author of a biography of Karl Marx, is not, in the current bookish fashion, whaling on the shortcomings and character flaws of the perverse blockheads who dare to differ from his own opinions about the world.
		But Wheen insists that both thinkers are actually less-than-witting collaborators: "Because of the yearning for binary simplicity, and the obvious tonal contrast between the respective optimism and pessimism of these two academic Jumbos, few noticed how much they had in common.
	www.washingtonpost.com /ac2/wp-dyn/A59099-2004Jun21?language=printer

	openDemocracy
		The paperback publication of Francis Wheen’s How Mumbo-Jumbo conquered the world allows the possibility of reflecting on one of the most amusing and informative of recent books.
		Wheen might reply that what has changed is that humanities and social science departments in the universities now spout a lunatic relativism that marks a departure from previous decades and which licenses all this unofficial knowledge in an unprecedented way.
		Wheen starts his chapter on what he calls “the demolition merchants of reality” by recalling the “MacCabe affair” at Cambridge University in 1981, when the question of whether to award me tenure as a lecturer became the focus of arguments over the way "English literature” was defined and taught.
	www.opendemocracy.net /articles/ViewPopUpArticle.jsp?id=1&articleId=2324

	How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World (Idiot Proof) - Francis Wheen
		Francis Wheen's How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World (re-titled for the American market as Idiot Proof) is, as the British sub-title has it: A short history of modern delusions.
		"Francis Wheen's book has the index of the year." -
		Wheen offers a few explanations for the incredible popularity of (and faith in) mumbo-jumbo -- "The new irrationalism is an expression of despair by people who feel impotent to improve their lives and suspect that they are at the mercy of secretive, impersonal forces", etc. -- but no real ways to counter it.
	www.complete-review.com /reviews/sokala/wheenf.htm

	Observer The bunkum stops here
		Wheen's biography of bunkum begins exactly a generation ago, in January 1979, when two fundamentalist revolutionaries were pledging to return their countries to mythical pasts.
		Wheen has a Swiftian relish for exposing the cant that attends the 'new irrationality', particularly when it is allied with corporate or political greed.
		Wheen is devastating on the sophistry of postmodernism, and sees in the moral relativism of literary theorists - 'who insisted that fact and fiction were indistinguishable' - a charter for political nihilism.
	observer.guardian.co.uk /print/0,3858,4849027-102280,00.html

	Book review - Rescuing Marx from ignorant "modernisers"
		It is certainly tempting to conclude that Wheen’s failure to criticise the weaknesses in Marx’s economic theories, particularly the lack of a concept of imperialism, led Francis Wheen to such a wrong position.
		Francis Wheen has unfortunately opted for an approach diametrically opposed to that of Marx.
		However, Wheen insists, it is necessary to understand exactly what Marx meant by the much quoted, but frequently misunderstood, assertion that ‘religion is the opium of the people’.
	www.labournet.org.uk /so/30marx.html

	Francis Wheen CV at PFD
		Francis Wheen is an author and journalist who was named Columnist of the Year for his contributions to the Guardian.
		Francis Wheen evokes the key personalities of the post-political era - including Princess Diana and Deepak Chopra, Osama Bin Laden and Nancy Reagan's astrologer - while charting the extraordinary rise in superstition, relativism and emotional hysteria over the past quarter of a century.
		In a series of significant great works to give readers a sense of the world in which it was written and how the book has reverberated throughout history.
	www.pfd.co.uk /scripts/get.py/books/?authors%20WHEENF

	Book Review
		Francis Wheen is always a most stimulating writer and in this new book he sounds off magnificently against a wide variety of targets.
		Wheen's technique is largely to let his targets speak for themselves and so convict themselves out of their own mouths.
		Thinkers such as Francis Bacon, John Locke, and Isaac Newton laid its foundations and their aims were taken up and developed by others in the eighteenth century, notably Thomas Jefferson, who is cited a number of times in these pages.
	www.accampbell.uklinux.net /bookreviews/r/wheen2.html

	Francis Wheen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The Chatto Book of Cats (Chatto Anthologies) Francis Wheen, editor, John O'Connor, illustrator (1993)
		Wheen broadcasts regularly (mainly on BBC Radio 4) and is a regular panellist on The News Quiz, in which he jokes fairly frequently about the fact, he rather looks like the former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith.
		He is also one of the most frequently-recruited guests for Have I Got News For You.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Francis_Wheen

	The Independent Online Edition > Enjoyment
		Francis Wheen is revered (and feared) for his casual yet deadly exposés of charlatans and imbeciles - the journalistic equivalent of drive-by shootings.
		Wheen makes it clear that he is not defending some of the most naïve assumptions of the Enlightenment.
		Everything from history to quantum physics was now a text, subject to the 'infinite play of signification'." Wheen traces the rise of this philosophy on the left to strange mixture of utopian elation and despair that followed the Parisian eruptions of 1968.
	enjoyment.independent.co.uk /books/reviews/story.jsp?story=491952

	spiked-central Letter Francis Wheen
		Francis Wheen's supposition, that the principle of rationality alone engenders self-evident truth, is as falsely posited as a key item forming part of the US Constitution's prologue - stating that it is self-evident that all men are created equal.
		Francis Wheen bemoans the passing of the old Enlightenment worldview, blaming many of today's problems upon its demise ( A brief history of bollocks, 26 May).
		I was excited to read of Francis Wheen's new book, and I would like to apply to do the American translation ( A brief history of bollocks, 26 May).
	www.spiked-online.com /Articles/0000000CA55B.htm

	Books Cheers, Mr Revolution
		Such colleagues have been patronised by historians, but Francis Wheen dispenses with them all: Michael Bakunin, in particular, is exposed as a charlatan, Frederick Lassalle as a creep to the Prussian monarchy, HM Hyndman, founder of the British Social Democratic Federation, as a plagiarist and bore.
		I am reviewing a book by a friend and colleague, and should beware of hyperbole and puff, so I can only say that this is a marvellous book which combines years of voracious reading with the stylish writing and polemical wit which Francis Wheen regularly showers on readers of the Guardian.
		Wheen wishes such critics, who include Tony Blair, would read the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts which Marx wrote when he was 26 in 1844 and which 'reveal the workings of a ceaselessly inquisitive, subtle and undogmatic mind.' Was Marx a morose recluse, trapped in the library of the British Museum?
	books.guardian.co.uk /print/0,3858,3925815-99942,00.html

	Sunday Herald
		Francis Wheen, fortunately for us, was not among them.
		Wheen is acute, for all that, in diagnosing its nature.
		Wheen is reminding us, in effect, that intellectual trash now passes for normal.
	www.sundayherald.com /print40092

	Amazon.com: Books: Idiot Proof: Deluded Celebrities, Irrational Power Brokers, Media Morons, and the Erosion of Common Sense
		Wheen conveniently fails to mention that the US government, for no discernible reason than to spite the government of Vietnam, who were the ones who overthrew the Khmer Rouge, "...became tacit supporters, for nearly a decade, of the Khmer Rouge, despite their murderous regime.
		Wheen's stated purpose is "to show how the humane values of the Enlightenment have been abandoned or betrayed....Each chapter looks at the application of Counter-Enlightenment in a different aspect of public life--politics, education, diplomacy, medicine, business, the media." I suppose he accomplishes this, although his entries bounce off walls.
		Wheen also gets self-righteous about something Michael Moore (a favorite whipping boy of American Fascists and their useful idiots) wrote that is obviously a comment on the savagely murderous absence of any sort of selectivity in (...)choice of targets.
	www.amazon.com /exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1586482475?v=glance

	In These Times - A Man for All Seasons
		Francis Wheen seems to have done that research scrupulously, open to both colorful stories and thunderous ideas.
		Wheen is unsparing in his depiction of Marx's nastiness, directed against Ferdinand Lassalle (including anti-Semitic barbs, although anti-Semitism was not part of Marx's philosophy or political behavior), Proudhon and other intellectuals of the left.
		Yet Wheen also recognizes that Marx was a loving husband and deeply affectionate father who, despite being unable to pay bills and depending on Engels for financial support, bought a piano for his daughters and sent them to the seashore to get them away from the rancid air of Soho.
	www.inthesetimes.com /issue/24/20/zinn2420.html

	How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions by Francis Wheen
		Francis Wheen supports the Enlightenment - "intellectual autonomy, a rejection of tradition and authority as the infallible sources of truth, a loathing for bigotry and persecution, a commitment to free inquiry, a belief that (in Francis Bacon's words) knowledge is indeed power." All power to his pen.
		How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions by Francis Wheen
		How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions by Francis Wheen, Perennial, 2004.
	www.321books.co.uk /reviews/philosophy/how-mumbo-jumbo.htm

	The History of Folly - History - Radio 4 - 24 April 2004
		In the first of a new series Francis Wheen examines the perennial tendency of politicians, scientists and others in authority to act perversely, and how, when more rational alternatives are clearly present, the best and brightest can blithely and arrogantly march into colossal blunders.
		Francis Wheen examines how, down the ages, the cleverest people have been led into folly when their great brains somehow failed to sound the alarm.
		Francis has published acclaimed biographies of Tom Driberg and Karl Marx and presented Radio 4's News-stand for a number of years before becoming a regular on Radio 4's The News Quiz.
	www.gmvidcom.com /radio4/history/history_of_folly.shtml

	Marx: The man behind the mask
		The phrase may be from John Reed's book on the Russian Revolution, but Francis Wheen uses it to describe the first meeting between Marx and Engels in 1844, which also lasted for ten days.
		Wheen then proceeds to demolish the arguments of those, such as Isaiah Berlin, who imply that Bakunin was some kind of free thinker and libertarian spirit whereas Marx was just a dogmatic and literal minded plodder.
		But, at the same time, Wheen is not scared to take up some of the arguments and some of the theoretical questions that have dogged studies of Marx for many years.
	pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk /isj85/morgan.htm

	BETA- Books We Like
		Francis Wheen is, hopefully, sowing a seed - a seed of a new Age of Enlightenment.
		I take issue with Francis Wheen on one thing - I would date the start of the Mumbo-Jumbo age back a little further - back to the time of musicals Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair and the Chariots of the Gods phenomena in the late 1960s.
		I feel that this is more than just an interesting or amusing book - it is both, of course, and Francis Wheen has a way of explaining things in a thoroughly entertaining and enlightening way, but this book is also an important book.
	www.bookswelike.net /isbn/0007140975

	Tonight - How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the world - Francis Wheen
		Francis Wheen has written a funny, exciting and depressing book on human folly.
		Wheen believes that that the Enlightenment was a golden era, and rationality, including the rise of science, continued through most of the 19th and 20th centuries.
		Wheen's explanation of all the varieties of current foolishness is that "The new irrationalism is an expression of despair by people who feel impotent to improve their lives and suspect that they are at the mercy of secretive, impersonal forces."
	www.tonight.co.za /index.php?fArticleId=2433543&fSectionId=375&fSetId=204

	Review: How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen
		Among members of the Socialist Party, Francis Wheen is certainly most widely known as the author of an excellent biography of Karl Marx.
		Although Wheen does not conclude in this way, good historical parallels can be found to assist in the explanation as to how mumbo-jumbo conquered the world, and what the results will be.
		Wheen’s book is essential reading for all Marxists.
	www.socialistworld.net /eng/2004/05/07wheen.html

	francis wheen
		Francis Wheen is a British writer and journalist.
		He is the author of several books and an award-winning column for The Guardian.
	www.yourencyclopedia.net /Francis_Wheen.html

	Guardian Unlimited Books Review Twaddle unswaddled
		But if Wheen's book succeeds in starting to shift the balance between reason and sentimentality, between the lavish prompts of the heart and the colder ones of the brain, between rigorous analysis and twaddle cloaked in obscurity, then I think the ghost of Jefferson will have every right, and reason, to be proud of him.
		Good sceptics like Wheen would be the first to tell you that even the findings of sceptics should never be swallowed whole.
		The values of the Enlightenment - "an insistence on intellectual autonomy, a rejection of tradition and authority as the infallible sources of truth, a loathing for bigotry and persecution, a commitment to free inquiry, a belief that (in Francis Bacon's words) knowledge is indeed power" - are daily being betrayed.
	books.guardian.co.uk /review/story/0,12084,1141920,00.html

	The Nomad Tavern: Francis Wheen the commie
		Francis Wheen, author of Idiot Proof: Deluded Celebrities, Irrational Power Brokers, Media Morons, and the Erosion of Common Sense, is interviewed at the Boston Globe about Madonna's new name, Margaret Thatcher's role in the dumbing down of the world, and Deepak.
		In the 'it's a small world' category, I was just browsing Blog of a Bookslut (what a catchy name), and she links to an article in the Boston Globe with, of all people, Francis Wheen, the author whose book, When...
		Posted by: Dan at July 2, 2004 05:01 AM
	www.akagicreative.com /thenomadtavern/archives/000350.html

	Steve State: Hitchens and Wheen
		Francis Wheen was wearing his MCC tie and possibly been at Lord's for England v Bangladesh.
		On Thursday I went to London to see Christopher Hitchens being interviewed by Francis Wheen in order to promote his recent book Love, Poverty and War.
		UCL, 26th May 2005, Francis Wheen interviews Chris...
	stevestate.blogspot.com /2005/05/hitchens-and-wheen.html

	Francis Wheen - new and used books
		Francis Wheen's fresh, lively, and moving biography of Marx considers the whole man--brain, beard, and the rest of his body.
		Francis Wheen's fresh, lively and moving biography of Marx considers the whole man--brain, beard and the rest of his body.
		Francis Wheen, Illustrated by John O'Connor - The Chatto Book of Cats
	www.isbn.pl /A-Francis-Wheen

	Guardian Unlimited Columnists Hoo-Hahs and Passing Frenzies by Francis Wheen
		Francis Wheen: On the perfectly proper path to a passport, and one man and his country.
		Francis Wheen: Buddy, can you spare a tank?
		Francis Wheen: The real reason Labour wants a May election
	www.guardian.co.uk /Columnists/Column/0,5673,656380,00.html

	Francis Wheen: How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World - Book Review
		Francis Wheen is perhaps best known as a formidable journalist - particularly on the
		Francis Wheen: How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World - Book Review
		How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions, by Francis Wheen
	www.galha.org /glh/233/wheen.html

	The Liberty Cadre : How Confused is Francis Wheen? The Myth of the Efficient Planned Economy
		One book I have been reading recently is How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered The World, by Francis Wheen.
		Wheen also questions the whole idea that free trade and lower taxes benefit economic growth, claiming that the economy grew much faster in the 1950’s and 1960’s when taxes were higher and trade was less free than today.
		Wheen laments the end of progress and reason and its replacement with quackery, irrational panics and New Age Mysticism.
	libertycadre.andrewiandodge.com /index.php/archives/2005/01/20/23

	Book Review: Karl Marx: A Life by Francis Wheen
		Wheen would apparently have us regard Marx as a “man of science,” but the truth is quite otherwise.
		It is, however, unfortunate that Wheen is so very conscious of being the first person to produce a biography of Marx since the end of the Cold War.
		It cannot therefore be refuted, as Wheen believes he does refute it, by speculating about what the reactions of Marx would have been had he lived to see those consequences.
	www.fee.org /vnews.php?nid=4992

	Speedysnail · Archives for December 2004
		So I’ve traded it in for a fresh new copy of Francis Wheen’s How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World, which should do for a quick sorbet of non-fiction between heavy courses of Stephenson (360 pages in, by the way, but I’m hoping to finish volume one over Christmas).
		Francis Spufford’s The Child that Books Built: A Memoir of Childhood and Reading was a close contender for this top ten.
		A thoughtful reflection on various classics of children’s literature and how they affected Spufford’s development and adult outlook, it was enjoyable not only for the influences we had in common—Tolkien, Ursula LeGuin and science fiction in general—but for those we didn’t, like C.S. Lewis and The Little House on the Prairie.
	speedysnail.com /2004/12/index.html

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In the News (Sun 3 Jun 12)