Amity Shlaes has a column on the "academic fury" directed at Glenn Beck: "Since the man is a riveting educator, the professors are correct to be concerned. He's not just reacting or shaping individual thoughts. He is bringing competition into the Ed Biz."
I got some insight of my own into what Ms. Shlaes calls the "university guild" via a review of my book published in an academic history journal and written by a history professor. If the academic historians would write books more like mine, the professor acknowledged in the review, it might "alleviate the sense of alienation and insignificance that plagues academic life in some quarters." I tried to write a letter to the editor in response but was told the journal doesn't accept them. It's that "sense of alienation and insignificance that plagues academic life" that drives some of the fury at Mr. Beck, I suspect.