BELLESILES UPDATE: The Bellesiles story is on the front page of the Chronicle of Higher Education’s website, though you’ll need a subscription to read it. I don’t subscribe to the Chronicle online, and the story’s not on NEXIS yet, so I can only report that they’re covering the story prominently — though that in itself is news.

UPDATE: This link to the Chronicle story seems to work. The story is mildly favorable to Bellesiles, in that it closes with a quote from the Nation‘s Bellesiles defense of last week.

Bellesiles is certainly playing the martyr — this story from the Washington Times quotes him as saying: “I believe that if we begin investigating every scholar who challenges received truth, it will not be long before no challenging scholarly books are published.” While it’s easy to understand why Bellesiles might choose to make such a claim, absurd as it is, I’m surprised that his remaining defenders are echoing it. Surely the claim that anyone who dares challenge the NRA will be crushed is a claim that is unlikely to promote more scholarship along the lines they find congenial. I conclude that either (1) they’re too foolish to think this through; or (2) they don’t intend such claims to be taken seriously. Or perhaps a bit of both.