National Endowment for the Humanities snubs prize-winning historian

ATLANTA - The National Endowment for the Humanities withdrew its name from a fellowship given to Emory University professor Michael Bellesiles to write a second book about guns. <br> <br> Bellesiles, on a fellowship for the academic year in Chicago, has been criticized for his book, ``Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture,&#39;&#39; published in 2000. Scholars and critics have accused him of ideological bias, selective scholarship and misleading statements. <br> <br> The Newberry Library, a research institution, awarded Bellesiles an NEH-funded $30,000 fellowship in February 2001 to work on a project called ``American Gun Laws: The Regulation of Firearm Use and Ownership, 1607-2000.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> This week, NEH officials said the Chicago-based library erred. <br> <br> ``They failed to weigh and consider all the factors surrounding Professor Bellesiles&#39; previous research, his proposed research, and indeed the credibility of the researcher himself,&#39;&#39; NEH Chairman Bruce Cole said in a written statement. <br> <br> Bellesiles has been redesignated a ``Newberry Library Fellow,&#39;&#39; but the funding will not be revoked, said James Grossman, the library&#39;s vice president for research and education. Bellesiles could not be reached for comment. <br> <br> The NEH, a federal agency, had previously pulled support of a project only once, for a 1987 documentary called ``The Africans,&#39;&#39; after it was deemed biased against the West. <br> <br> Bellesiles spent 10 years working on ``Arming America.&#39;&#39; The book challenges the idea that the United States has always been a gun-oriented culture and that well-armed militias were essential to the Revolutionary War. <br> <br> Emory officials have appointed a team of scholars to investigate the accusations.