Queries & Comments

SPECIAL DOUBLE ISSUE

Shanks Shares Sentiments

Cancel my subscription!

Actually, don’t cancel it. I just wanted to see what it felt like to write those words after 43 years of having them written to me.

I did, however, want to write my first ever letter to the editor of BAR and share a couple of thoughts regarding the wonderful tribute issue of BAR (March/April/May/June 2018) in my honor.

First, several people have noticed the lack of reference to my wife in this issue. For the last 53 years I have been married to my darling Judith, but we do have different interests. We also have two daughters—Elizabeth and Julia—and two grandchildren—Nancy and Charlie—each with his or her own interests and accomplishments.

Second, BAS President and BAR Publisher Susan Laden notes in her BAR history (“Raising the BAR,” BAR, March/April/May/June 2018) that, “In 1994, I left the [Biblical Archaeology] society … Almost 10 years later, Hershel asked me to come back.” This conceals a bitter disagreement that persists to this day: Sue claims that I fired her; on the contrary, I claim that she quit.