From a reader:

Subject: Book envy?
I notice the author of the #48,573rd ranked book on Amazon just posted another snide little cheap shot at you and your book.
Many congratulations on the success of the book. I ordered it last week from Amazon and it should be arriving at my “Mailboxes, Etc”. box down here in Panama by Wednesday!
As a longtime member of the (apparently legion) “That’s just what I have always argued to my liberal friends who call conservatives fascists!” club, I can’t wait to read your comprehensive treatment of the issue.

Me: I don’t know if Andrew’s envious of my book. I do know he hasn’t read it. I do know that when I described its thesis over friendly drinks he wasn’t remotely scandalized. I do know that when his book came out he railed about how National Review was afraid to review it, then we were afraid to put that review on the web and then when we put it on the web as planned all along he had a fit (uncharacteristic of him, I know) about how we were trying to suppress interest in it. Yes, I was the one who reviewed it. And yes I was very critical. But, unlike Andrew, I thought reading it before criticizing it the more honorable approach.