Talk:Norman Finkelstein

Adding popular interview with Finkelstein to external links or videos section

September 2020 interview with Finkelstein has over 16k views on youTube and more views on the interviewers website. The interview is titled "How true academic freedom creates intellectual conflict" Finkelstein talks about his career and why he struggled to conform to academia.

I would like to add

• Interview with Norman Finkelstein, "How True Academic Freedom Creates Intellectual Conflict" September 2020

GA Reassessment

{{Wikipedia:Good article reassessment/Norman Finkelstein/1}}

Proposed minor edit: Finkelstein's dissertation and From Time Immemorial

The current version of this article states that "Finkelstein's doctoral thesis examined the claims made in Joan Peters's From Time Immemorial".

This is not correct. A digitized version of Finkelstein's dissertation (Norman G. Finkelstein, "From the Jewish Question to the Jewish State: An Essay on the Theory of Zionism" (PhD dissertation: Princeton, 1988)) is now available from ProQuest: Peters's book does not even appear in its bibliography (which includes every title cited in his notes.)

Finkelstein's critique of FTI was a side project. It was published first as an article in the journal In These Times, and then as a chapter in the book Blaming the Victims.

This passage in the article should be edited to read: "While still a graduate student at Princeton, Finkelstein published a critique of the claims made in Joan Peters's From Time Immemorial".

Update: I see that I neglected to sign and date this proposal. --Cliodule (talk) 12:43, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Isn't anybody concerned that this article includes an obvious factual error?

I can't make this change myself. The article is under extended confirmed protection, and I have made only 261 edits. Cliodule (talk) 12:30, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

File:Yes check.svg Done Thanks for your input. Earlier in the article, it clearly states that the dissertation was on the theory of Zionism. I was wary of citing the subject's own works to back up your edit request, so I found another source from NYU. Cheers. StonyBrook _babble 16:40, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

Thank you! Cliodule (talk) 11:55, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Lead changes

@Cambial Yellowing, I removed some unduly weighted content from the lead, per @Femke's GAR. You reverted this as inappropriate. Why? ꧁Zanahary꧂ 01:04, 27 January 2025 (UTC)

This is a biography. The important facts about his life story, including a significant event that impacted his career path, are appropriate to the lead. As his notability comes from his being a scholar, the same applies to brief summaries of his most noteworthy work. Replacing a brief factual account of significant events with the blithe, pejorative, poorly-supported and POV sentence "subject is a controversial academic" is not an improvement and does not maintain a neutral point of view. Cambial — foliar❧ 13:05, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

The tenure dispute is way unduly weighted, and there is no reason to highlight his 2018 book at the end of the lead. The body of the article goes into great depth on his reception and controversy, including his feud with Dershowitz, yet the lead makes no mention of any controversial reception or public image. ꧁Zanahary꧂ 19:09, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

The claim that subject is an inherently controversial person is both unsupported and simply poor writing. What does such a notion even mean? Do some doubt his existence? It’s unsupported and not an improvement.

The tenure dispute is closely related to the Dershowitz affair, so it’s odd that you would think a 2-sentence summary of the controversial denial of tenure that massively affected the rest of his career undue, but think it ought to have more coverage of a dispute with an academic following Finkelstein’s discrediting his work. The dispute used to be included but was removed a year or so ago. The outcome is certainly more important to the biography than the dispute but it could indeed also be mentioned.

A sentence about “He received praise and criticism” – like every other author in history – tells the reader nothing. It’s not one of the most important aspects of the article. Cambial — foliar❧ 09:27, 30 January 2025 (UTC)