MICHAEL BELLESILES UPDATE: Now he’s suggesting that his critics forged his emails. This has gone from disgraceful, to pathetic. Here’s what Boston University law professor Randy Barnett says:

Barnett said Lindgren was innocently trying to reconcile differences in his research with Bellesiles’ work when Lindgren first e-mailed Bellesiles. Lindgren had not yet read Arming America, but he was familiar with some of Bellesiles’ work from an online discussion site for academics. He also said Bellesiles had a demonstrated record of lying to cover-up a “scandal.”

“The fact Bellesiles now accuses a reputable scholar of fabricating an e-mail (at a time when the other scholar was merely requesting data he had no idea had been falsified) … is an admission of how significant his previous lies have been,” Barnett wrote in an e-mail to the Wheel. “Were these trivial matters, Bellesiles would not have to invent such desperate accusations. This latest incident should reveal much about Professor Bellesiles’ character to anyone who previously harbored any illusions.”

“This is not typical academic behavior and this not a matter of different people interpreting data in different ways,” Barnett added.

Yes, and I’d add that it’s disgraceful that Bellesiles’ publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, is still trying to maintain that this is all a question of interpretation, when it’s a question of fabrication.