Scene Editor Clears Air Over St. John Flap

september 13, 2004  01:40 pm
It began innocently enough. Nashville Scene editor Bruce Dobie ran a generally positive review of Warren St. John's new book on football fans. St. John, in town for a book tour, read the review, but it was the caption under his photograph -- "Warren St. John uses race in the worst kind of way: to make himself look honorable" -- that caught his attention. The New York Times writer called Dobie to complain. He called again (and again and again). Finally, he wrote a piece for Slate in which he trashed Dobie, the paper and the reviewer. Dobie responds with an open letter to St. John: "You really are capable of offering only part of the truth, the part that burnishes your own image of yourself."