Discordant Sound
Eric Longley

Review by Alyce Wilson

In "Discordant Sound," a collection of essays, Eric Longley tackles subjects ranging from American jurispudence to the media. Longley, whose essays previously appeared on the Internet, is that rarest of pundits, an iconclast equally comfortable with challenging conservative and liberal sacred cows.

The strength of his arguments comes, most often, from his rigorous research. In "Pay me Something for the Heating of my Iron," for example, he delves into legal arguments against the U.S. government's treatment of Hany Kiareldeen, a suspected terrorist who was cleared and then denied compensation for his legal expenses. In this essay, Longley traces the American justice system back to its English roots, arguing that the decision against compensating Kiareldeen could only encourage future unjustified government accusations, whereas a reward may have been a deterrent.

In "Anti-Pacifism Arguments," Longley makes the case for pacifism by showing the similarity between current pro-war rhetoric and that of such notables as Mussolini, Hitler and Trotsky.

If these meaty legal arguments may take work to digest, Longley also ventures into humor and satire, at times more successfully than others. It works to great effect in "Hitler versus Stalin," where the two former despots battle it out in hell, arguing which one was worse. And "The Paranoia Society" is a brilliant commentary on the current American political environment, where everyone from Arabs to women to white men feel under attack by society.

But humor fails in "Geraldo's Hunt for Osama," a fictional romp where Geraldo traipses through caves in Afghanistan, finding everybody but Osama bin Laden. Even if "Osama in hiding" jokes hadn't been overdone by Jay Leno, this essay falls flat, at one point even trying to eke humor out of the O.J. Simpson trial.

Some of his most fascinating pieces are where he debunks the mainstream perceptions of key American historical figures. In "Tom Paine: Anti-Christian and Anti-Semitic," his review of "The Age of Reason," Longley argues that Paine's deist statements against Christian doctrine misunderstand the doctrine itself, and that Paine's arguments associate the Old Testament Jews with "cruelty and revenge." This, naturally, is in stark contrast with the commonly held perception of Paine as a freedom-fighter.

An even more courageous debunking is "Lincoln's Alleged Virtues," a review of "Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography," where Longley exposes Lincoln's conflicting statements about slavery, as well as his inherent bigotry. As in his legal arguments, Longley supports his case with a wealth of historical fact and quotes from both Lincoln and his contemporaries.

If there was one fault with "Discordant Sound," it was in the preponderance of typos, which are so frequent as to be distracting. Hopefully, this issue will be corrected in future printings, so that the reader can enjoy this thoughtful, well-supported essay collection without distraction.

Writers Club Press; ISBN: 0595258190