N. Parille

In case it gets deleted, here is my SOLO P post: ___________________________________________________ As partisans of the “PARC wars” may recall, James Valliant claimed that The Passion of Ayn Rand’s Critics (2005) was “heavily edited” but never named the editor. Yesterday, James stated that when Leonard Peikoff learned of the draft of PARC that was on the internet 1999-2000, he called James and said that Rand's notes corroborated what he wrote. Further, "he helped me edit the Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics."* Please tell me that Peikoff wasn't responsible even in part for the editing of this horrible book. Can anyone here who was involved in the PARC wars recall James saying that Peikoff helped him edit the book? In fact, on Rebirth of Reason, Valliant’s collaborator and friend Casey Fahy denied that Leonard Peikoff had any role in PARC “at all, ever.” In the comment section to the same article, James and his wife (the "Magenta Hornet") commented and failed to correct Casey on this mistake. Lest anyone think that I'm making this up, here is Casey: "The repeated claim that this book represents the 'official' position of the Ayn Rand Institute is particularly amusing to me. When Valliant, a good friend of mine, wrote Part I of the book, he knew that the Ayn Rand Institute took a dim view of even mentioning the Brandens. When he published that part, on my own website, we both believed that doing so would jeopardize what relationship he had had with Leonard Peikoff. I can personally vouch for the fact that Jim did not consult with Peikoff or anyone else associated with ARI about the content of his book—at all, ever. As proof of this, when Dr. Peikoff did make Rand's papers available to him, Peikoff told Jim that his first reaction to the very idea of the project was, and I quote, 'Am I gonna have to pick a fight with Valliant now?' And, it was reading those original essays alone that convinced Peikoff to make Rand's notes available. Period."** Best I can tell, Peikoff has never said he was involved in the editing of the book. In 2009 (after PARC was published), Peikoff was asked about Valliant (and Dr. Diana). His response: "Now I have another question from the same person about two individual objectivists with a public profile. In a long question, he wants to know what I think of them, do I agree with them and my answer is I thoroughly approve of the intellectual battle waged by Jim Valliant and Diana Shay Shaw [Hsieh]. I admire the work of both to the extent that I know it."** According to James, PARC will be republished by Fred Weiss next year with a new preface. * https://www.youtube.com/watch?... ** http://rebirthofreason.com/Art... *** https://peikoff.com/2009/08/24...