Communications

A communication will be considered only if it relates to an article or review published in this journal; publication is solely at the editor's discretion. The AHA disclaims responsibility for statements, either of fact or opinion, made by the writers. Letters may not exceed seven hundred words for reviews and one thousand words for articles. They should be submitted in duplicate, typed double-spaced with wide margins, and headed "To the Editor."

REVIEWS OF BOOKS AND FILMS

To the Editor:
Elizabeth W. Etheridge's book review [/journals/ahr/108.4/br_36.html] says of The Deadly Truth: "The deadly truth, Gerald N. Grob concludes in this aptly named book, is that disease will never be conquered completely." Let me point out that "never" is a very long time. But Etheridge goes on to evaluate Grob's conclusion as "realistic." I do not believe the conclusion is very realistic. As I recently wrote: "If the popular 'big bang' theory (including that space-time had a beginning) is correct, then presumably most of what is real lies in the future (not in the present or the past). Thus our present and past experiences (such as, 'Nothing is certain but death and taxes') probably do not constitute a very good representative sample of reality" (Death and Anti-Death, Volume 1 [2003], 429).
Charles Tandy Fooyin University, Kaohsiung Hsien, Taiwan

Elizabeth W. Etheridge does not wish to reply.

The Editors

ERRATUM

In the review of Anne Hardgrove's electronic book by Douglas E. Haynes (AHR 108 [December 2003]: 1434), the title was given incorrectly: it should be Community and Public Culture: The Marwaris in Calcutta c. 1897–1997. And the individual price, not just the site access, should have been given, $49.50. The editors regret these errors.

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