Letters
June 3,1994
Mr. Martin Kessler
President and Editor
Basic Books
Dear Mr. Kessler:
I'm
writing to inform you that
Mi chael Wreszin 's statement in his
book,
A R ebel in Defense of Tradition:
Th e Life and Politics of Dwight
Macdonald,
that
Partisan Relliew
wh en
it first began w as fund ed by th e
Communi st Party, is w ro ng and
probably libelo us.
W ould yo u pl ease see that th e
statement is corrected or withdrawn in
any future editi ons of th e book?
Sincerely,
William Phillips
Editor-in-C hi ef
Partisan R elliew
June 15, 1994
Dear Mr. Phillips:
I write in response
to
your letter of
Jun e 3, 199 4 rega rdin g Mi chae l
Wr esz in 's
A R ebel
in
Defense of
T raditi on .
Professo r Wresz in h as
amassed a substanti al bo dy o f sup–
portin g evidence fo r hi s characteri–
zation of th e relati onship between the
Communi st Party and th e o ri gin al
Partisan R elliew.
Thus we beli eve th e
statements made in
A Rebel
in
Defense
of Traditi on
to
be tru e. Pro fesso r
Wreszin tells us he has no obj ecti o n ,
however, to changing th e o ffending
sentence in any future editi ons
to
read:
" . . . and supported by the Party." I
tru st yo u will agree th at thi s is a
reasonabl e soluti on to th e problem .
Sincerely,
Steven Fraser
Vice President
Executive Editor
Basic Books
June 28, 1995
Dear Mr. Fraser:
I wo uld like to see a copy of this
so- ca ll ed " bo dy of suppo rtin g evi–
dence." Actu all y, I wro te abo ut th e
magazine's sources o f fundin g
111
my
memo ir,
A Partisarl View.
Sincerely,
Willi am Phillips
July 19, 1995
Dear Mr. Phillips:
In
respo nse to your letter of June
28, I am encl osing a synopsis of some
of th e evidence th at Michae l Wreszin
has ga th ered in defense o f th e cla im
m ad e in
A Rebel in Defense of
Tradiriol1
rega rdin g sources of fund ing
for
Partisall R elliew.
I believe th at this displays Pro fessor
W reszin 's sc ho larly dili ge nce . I tru st
that you will find his grac ious offer to
