As you all know, as you all relish, The Gutter likes to take a bite out of crime. And, today, in these fallen times, one crime—theft—is everywhere. If by theft we mean plagiarism. What has a man but his words? His ideas? What else does he truly own? Oh, the shock and pity of it all. We noted several weeks ago that intellectual property theft was approaching collective spree proportions—even, alas, coming to The Gutter. Now news of a past-but-not-forgotten misdeed has crossed our desk. Roger Shepherd, former Parsons professor, ripped off huge, greedy chunks of OPB for his forgettable 2002 tome Structures of our Time, a book brought to us, as it happens, by Architectural Record, the claque of addled ne'er do wells who are just now, as we blog, preparing a scathing investigative showstopper on yours so totally truly. Good fucking luck. Maybe you could just cadge some mojo from House & Home? Hey, everyone's doing it. But few with the hamfisted bravado of Professor Mr. Shepherd. As detailed in the letter, just released by his primary victim's publisher, after the jump.

Notice of Plagiarized Content

To readers of Structures of Our Time: Thirty-One Buildings That Changed Modern Life by Roger Shepherd (McGraw Hill, 2002):

Please be advised that certain contents of this book were reproduced without permission and without attribution from other authors' books. Specifically:

1. Shepherd, Chapter 5, section entitled ?Equitable Savings and Loan, Portland, Oregon, is largely taken from Meredith L. Clausen, Pietro Belluschi, Modern America Architect (MIT Press, 1994), Chapter 6, The Equitable Building and the Postwar Boom.

2. Shepherd, [section on the Seagram Building] is largely taken from Franz Schultz's introduction to The Seagram Building (Princeton Architectural Press, 1999).

3. Shepherd, [section on Taliesin West] is largely taken from Neil Levine's introduction to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West (Princeton Architectural Press, 1999).

4. Shepherd, [section on the John Hancock Center] is largely taken from Yasmin Kahn's introduction to The John Hancock Center (Princeton Architectural Press, 2000).

This plagiarism has been admitted by Mr. Shepherd. See The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 20, 2004, "Arts Professor at New School U. Resigns After Admitting Plagiarism."

Sincerely,

Ellen Faran, Director
MIT Press

Posted in Our Fallen World, Words, Words