Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/James Bovard


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Spartaz Humbug! 07:23, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

James Bovard

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Unsourced stub since 2004, about a political commentator and author. The article contains virtually no biographical information. The subject has written nine non-notable books, and he writes op-ed pieces for notable publications (which of course does not by itself make him notable). In a search, all I could find was primary sources (his own writings, book jacket blurbs, etc.); I could find nothing ABOUT him by secondary sources. Looking back through the article's history I found a few old press mentions of him which had been deleted as unsourced; in fairness I have sourced them and put them back into the article. The article also previously listed some non-notable awards, which were also deleted as unsourced. Even though the article is no longer unsourced, IMO the subject does not meet our guidelines at WP:GNG or WP:NAUTHOR. He has not received "significant coverage from multiple reliable sources". He has not "created a well-known work or significant body of work," and he has not "won significant critical attention". MelanieN (talk) 15:31, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Keep. Looks notable albeit stubby. Weren't his books reviewed?Zigzig20s (talk) 16:12, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * I couldn't find any - except for that one Wall Street Journal review of Control and Command. For example, Fair Trade Fraud seems to have been reviewed only by the Cato Institute and something called the Foundation for Economic Education - not by any mainstream sources. The Bush Betrayal  - nothing at all, just the publisher and the sources like Goodreads and Publishers Weekly that review everything. --MelanieN (talk) 16:35, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Note that there is an article in Wikipedia titled "Foundation for Economic Education". Take care. -The Gnome (talk) 18:57, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Another libertarian think tank, like Cato. At least his fellow libertarians find his book(s) worth reviewing. Now if only a few mainstream publications did... --MelanieN (talk) 23:26, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * There are book reviews on JSTOR: this, this, this, this, this.Zigzig20s (talk) 06:41, 27 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions.  MT Train Talk 16:48, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Politics-related deletion discussions.  MT Train Talk 16:48, 26 March 2018 (UTC)


 * This article refers to him as the leading postal service critic fpr the last 7 years. FloridaArmy (talk) 17:06, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * He's also discussed in the book Global Marketing (2000) on page 60 "James Bovard might be considered the Ralph Nader of global marketing. He is a tireless advocate of unrestricted trade and a vocal critic of U.S. trade policy who campaigns to influence the views of policymakers and the general public. In his recent book, The Myth of Fair Trade, and numerous articles and essays, Bovard argues that U.S. trade laws are hypocritical because they reduce, rather than encourage, competition. The result, he asserts, is higher prices for U.S. consumers.." FloridaArmy (talk) 17:12, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Some New York Times coverage from 2007 FloridaArmy (talk) 17:21, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * The article refers to Bovard as " a libertarian writer and lecturer." No indication of prominence, of anything on which to hang a notability hat. -The Gnome (talk) 18:57, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Minneapolis Star-Tribune:(https://search.proquest.com/news/docview/418319153/fulltext/F77BD862F3AD4F72PQ/2?accountid=10226 Author takes on Congress, trade-regulation system] this is a full-length review signed Youngblood, Dick; Staff Writer. Star Tribune; a different review, also full-length, ran in the Colorado Springs Gazette; The unfairness of tariffs; George Will reviewed it for the San Francisco Chronicle, America's 'Fair Trade Fraud, book review, 9 January 1992.  There were more, I stopped after the first few, but  My search for reviews of this single book also turned up a 1999 essay in the Wall Street Journal by John McGinnis dedicated to discussing Bovard's ideas and  and impact ''"James Bovard has become the roving Inspector General of the modern state. In the The Fair Trade Fraud (1991) he showed how politicians ..."'' McGuiness, a well-know legal scholar, continues, discussing the impact of three of Bovard's books.  I suspect that editors above ran into two familiar problems: poorly sourced page on a notable intellectual, and search engines that fail to bring material from 20 years ago to the top of a search.  Searches using keywords and book titles should solve this, but he meets WP:AUTHOR with book reviews of the first book alone.E.M.Gregory (talk) 17:36, 27 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete. Looks to me like an excuse to create external links and thus promote his blog. Deb (talk) 17:35, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Weak delete per nomination. Does not meet WP:AUTHOR. This is someone possibly on the verge of notability, but not definitely over the threshold. -The Gnome (talk) 18:57, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Keep as per WP:AUTHOR. in addition to the reviews of several of his books in academic journals that User:Mark the train lists above, there are reviews in the press of The Fair Trade Fraud, his first book, which explains why it doesn't show up well in searches was reviewed in:
 * Thank you for your research. Would you consider actually improving the article, by adding some of this material to it? I would hate to see a “keep” result which leaves the article in its current condition as a barely-referenced stub. --MelanieN (talk) 17:50, 27 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Are you changing your opinion to Keep? FloridaArmy (talk) 18:51, 27 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Not yet, but improvements in the article might move me in that direction. In fact, somebody with the username JamesBovard has been adding material to the article. You might check to see if the references are cited and formatted properly. --MelanieN (talk) 20:26, 27 March 2018 (UTC)


 * Well, since nobody here could be bothered to actually improve the article, Mr. Bovard himself came and added a bunch of referenced material, and I just spent the past hour putting the references into proper shape. What we have now is not perfect from a Wikipedia standpoint - multiple citations are to his own writing, and some of the book reviews are cited to the publisher of his book, rather than to the actual publication that said them. But overall it is clear that he has had enough coverage to pass WP:GNG and the article should be kept. I can’t withdraw the nomination because other people have !voted Delete, but I can change my recommendation to Keep, per The Heymann Standard. Sometimes that’s what AfD is good for - the stimulus to turn a sup-par article into a decent one. --MelanieN (talk) 21:41, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

Dear Wikipedia: Please keep the Jim Bovard page. Along with many of my friends and acquaintances – including people who disagree with him – I have been an avid reader of Jim Bovard’s many books, blog posts, and Facebook page. I’ve also attended conferences where he was a headline speaker. I hope that some of the following links demonstrate his high level of activity – even though I had to remove most of the links because of the confusing Wiki instructions. He is currently a regular featured writer at The Hill, US Today, Future of Freedom Foundation, the Mises Institute, and at Antiwar.com. Further, many of his articles appear in the Wall Street Journal. A complete set of signed copies of his books were also auctioned to raised funds for the launch of the first Libertopia festival in San Diego in 2011, an event that is now in its 8th year! Those books obtained the higest bids of any items at the auction.

Here is a list of his books: •	Attention Deficit Democracy •	The Bush Betrayal •	Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil •	"Feeling Your Pain": The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years •	Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen •	Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty •	The Fair Trade Fraud •	The Farm Fiasco •	Public Policy Hooligan

Here are a couple recent opinion articles at The Hill: •	On the FBI’s nefarious record •	On former president Bush Here are some recent articles at USA Today: •	The Cliven Bundy trial •	One year of President Trump Here are some articles at the Wall Street Journal: •	Corrupt agricultural policy •	Subsidies to peanut growers

A regular columnist at Future of Freedom Foundation - https://www.fff.org/author/james-bovard/

You can see he has a very active following on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/jim.bovard

And here’s his blog, followed closely by lots of readers - http://jimbovard.com/blog/about/

And he’s a guest speaker at many events: •	2008 - “Restoring the Republic” Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties, covered by CNN •	2007 – “Restoring the Republic,” covered by CNN

A recent guest of the Tom Wood’s Show •	On the TSA – •	A retrospective of some of his work -

In other words, it would be a mistake to delete this page – a big one! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Laurentius44L (talk • contribs) 14:55, 2 April 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.