Schlesinger's Diary

This week's New York Times Sunday Book Review has an extensive review of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s Journals: 1952-2000. My only complaint is that the Times surely could have given this assignment to someone with considerably more gravitas than Maureen Dowd, who, given more than 4300 words, does little more than recount anecdotes from the book. The anecdotes are telling, but couldn't a more serious reviewer have done so much more with this sort of prime space? I have a hard time believing that Bill Leuchtenburg or Robert Dallek or Alonzo Hamby or about three dozen other serious historians could not have done a significantly better job with a book that looks rich and compelling and will provide rich insights into Schlesinger and simultaneously leave a valuable primary source for historians of politics and American life to mine.