‘A DANGEROUS THING’

There’s an old saying that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” This certainly applies to Gail Sheehy’s new book on Gorbachev: (“The Man Who Changed the World”; Dec. 16). She thinks she knows enough to write such a book, but really doesn’t.

Sheehy should stick to the areas in which she has expertise and let the serious, knowledgeable, bona-fide historians write the definitive works on Gorbachev. One thing we don’t need nowadays is another pseudo-historian, as our history books already are filled with enough half-truths, distortions, misconceptions, exaggerations and outright lies.

KENNETH L. ZIMMERMAN, CYPRESS