:Talk:Jean Bethke Elshtain

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some of the article is taken verbatim from professor behtke elshtains website. not sure if that is ok with wikipedia procedures, maybe someone with a better knowledge of those could have a look at it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.251.255.103 (talk) 14:56, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

:I would add to the above comment that the section on her works looks like a fan club endorsement. Perhaps that's the section that is taken from her own website. Maybe she wrote the whole entry, or got a student to write it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.7.237.175 (talk) 03:05, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

::This post directly above can be interpreted, and perhaps misinterpreted, to indicate that Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain might coerce a student into writing a Wikipedia entry for her benefit, and, as such, is purely speculative and to my knowledge without merit. Consequently, it does not seem to be within the “Talk” standards of Wikipedia, and does not seem to provide a suggestion as to how the article should be *improved*. Such speculations on a person's character seem unnecessary, and the facts are called for in evaluating this case and the Wikipedia entry, which could result in some *improvements* (please see below). Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain won a nearly unparalleled number of academic awards and honors. By all accounts she did write over 20 books. The information that I have had access to indicates that she was indeed the 1st women at Vanderbilt University to hold an Endowed Chair, and also followed the great William James one century later by delivering the highly prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh during her career (2006, I think). Consequently, it is difficult for a Wikipedia entry on such a person to read very differently than as it currently appears, which would nearly have to be, by definition given her accomplishments, within a positive to very positive light.

::At this point, I should probably explicitly state that I did not contribute to this Wikipedia entry on Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain, and just joined the Wikipedia community. I should also disclose this fact: I am one of Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain’s nephews, and thus it could appear as though I have some conflict of interest, but as she is no longer with us, there really is not a conflict of interest here, and the facts of her awards do speak for themselves accurately as the Wikipedia entry currently stands.

::Possible Improvements: It is possible that one could *improve* this entry by indicating that Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain was apparently quite talented at choosing topics for her books that were highly likely to be at the forefront of American minds, and, as such, were likely to be widely read. It would appear that she could generate the books quite rapidly in order to have them published in a timely manner that would maximize their impact, but this is also a positive aspect of a successful academic if that academic does not want his or her works to be ignored. I hesitate to add this to this Wikipedia entry at this time on Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain because I would need to do more research, and gather more facts, before making such an entry on any person, but it is possible for this entry to be *improved* in a manner such as this, because the timing of one’s books can be seen in a negative light (e.g., profit motive), as well as in a positive light (e.g., being able to write quickly and well, and thus maximizing exposure of one’s ideas which one intends to be beneficial to the commonwealth when attempting to influence political thought and social policy issues, etc.). DrMarkBing (talk) 12:04, 14 October 2014 (UTC)by Dr. Mark N. Bing, Ph.D.