Highest Rated Comments


abbamouse160 karma

An obligatory question of all progressive independents: if you get more traction in this race, are you worried that the outcome might actually be the election of Republican Joe Kaufman? Who knows? In a race where control of the House is in genuine doubt, one or two such races might determine the identity of the Speaker -- and the future of Trump's agenda.

abbamouse20 karma

I'm worried that if the Rep draws the same vote share as 2016 (something like 40%) and progressives/democrats split their votes, it could happen. Full disclosure: My preference is that you win, my second choice is the corrupt Dem, and my third (or bottom) choice is the Trump-supporting Republican. So I'm pulling for you to win, but it might be disastrous if you came in 2nd. Best wishes!

abbamouse7 karma

I'm researching the politics of Tolkien -- both the political myths propagated by his works and his own politics. I have three questions:

  1. Will there be material at the Morgan library not at the Bodleian exhibit?
  2. Is there material in the present exhibit which will not be making the trip to the Morgan Library in 2019?
  3. Have you run into anything that might shed light on my topic when preparing the exhibit? Views on nationalism, gender, race, political virtue, and leadership would be useful.

abbamouse6 karma

I cannot stay for the entire AMA but I wanted to thank you so much for doing this. It is really useful. If I may venture one last question: Is (non-flash) photography permitted at the exhibit (or in the archives)?

abbamouse4 karma

Yes, they are very useful. I pretty much have or have access to all of his published material. It's the unpublished, un-mined data that I'm really interested in -- but I don't know what's in the various archives, esp. the Bodleian.

I have a follow-up question: you said the Bodleian Library has many boxes and books. How much of that is accessible to academic researchers? (I know that the family collection, MS B, and MS S are not yet available, but I don't know how much of the archive that comprises). I have to make some tough decisions about how to spend a limited research budget over the next couple of years.