Authored by Roger Kimball via American Greatness,
Jason Arday should ask for a cover charge. His entertainment value is that splendid. For the last couple of weeks, the "youngest ever black professor" at the University of Cambridge has been a nearly ubiquitous and nonstop source of hilarity. The proximate catalyst for the comedy is the imminent publication of Great and Unfortunate Things, co-written with the "book doctor" Eve Claxton. It is due out on August 11 from Simon & Schuster. Amazon lists it as an "Editor's Pick" of "Best Biographies & Memories." "A story of resilience, dignity, and the extraordinary power of those who hold steady for us when we cannot yet hold steady for ourselves," says one blurber. "Makes you believe in the transformative power of grit and the magic of a mother's love," quoth another. A story easily worth the "$1.4 million" advance that Jason said he was offered for the book (though that figure is disputed). Did you know that poor Jason, now 41, was "diagnosed with autism and developmental delays at age three, and experts told his parents he would never speak, write, or live independently"?
And that was the least of Jason's trials. The Atlantic got hold of an advance copy of the book and drew attention to what some have delicately described as numerous "inconsistencies" in Arday's acco
