7/10/2006

Good Thing Ann Coulter Ain't a Dark-Skinned College Freshman:
From April 2006:
Steve Ross of Crown Publishers on Harvard student (and former Little, Brown author) Kaavya Viswanathan's plagiarism, in How Opal Mehta Got Kissed..., of several books put out by Crown, from an article titled "Harvard author's apology not accepted": "Based on the scope and character of the similarities, it is inconceivable that this was a display of youthful innocence or an unconscious or unintentional act." Ross went on to call Viswanathan guilty of "literary identity theft" for the "identical language and/or common scene or dialogue structure" between Viswanathan's work and two books by Crown author Megan McCafferty. This was in April of this year.

An example of Viswanathan's plagiarism:
From McCafferty: "Tanning was the closest that Sara came to having a hobby, other than gossiping, that is. Even the webbing between her fingers was the color of coffee without cream. Even for someone with her Italian heritage and dark coloring, it was unnatural and alienlike."

From Viswanathan: "It was obvious that next to casual hookups, tanning was her extracurricular activity of choice. Every visible inch of skin matched the color and texture of her Louis Vuitton backpack. Even combined with her dark hair and Italian heritage, she looked deep-fried."

Some examples are closer to verbatim; others are less so.

From July 2006:
Steve Ross on Crown author Ann Coulter's alleged plagiarism in Godless: "We have reviewed the allegations of plagiarism surrounding Godless and found them to be as trivial and meritless as they are irresponsible. Any author is entitled to do what Ann Coulter has done in the three snippets cited: research and report facts." Ross also points to the "nineteen pages of hundreds of endnotes" as proof that there is no plagiarism. He does not address anything beyond the "three snippets" cited by the New York Post.

A non-Post example of Coulter's plagiarism:

From the Parents Television Council: "[T]he presiding Judge said that it was 'inconceivable' that Tiffany Eunick’s injuries were caused by Lionel Tate mimicking wrestling moves. Indeed, since the trial ended, Lionel Tate’s new lawyers have filed court papers in which they admit that the 'wrestling defense' was, in their words, 'bogus.'"

From Coulter: "[T]he judge called it 'inconceivable' that Tiffany's injuries were caused by wrestling moves. After the trial, Tate's new lawyers admitted that the 'wrestling defense' was 'bogus.'"

Some examples are closer to verbatim; others are less so.

Conclusions?
Steve Ross is a greedy, ass-covering prick who'll suck the cock of Hypocrisy as hard as he can if it means squeezing an extra penny out of his pathetic excuses for books.

(Tip o' the blog to rude reader Michael H. for the heads up.)

More non-Coulter rudeness later.