Orlando Figes, a professor of Russian history at Birkbeck College, London, has admitted writing anonymous reviews on Amazon that lauded his own books and trashed those of his academic rivals.
When they were linked to him, at first he claimed his wife had written them without his knowledge.
First rule: when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging! Telling one lie to cover up another seldom works out well (hello Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton).
In his apology Figes said "Some of the reviews now I see were small minded and ungenerous, but they were not intended to harm."
He's talking about saying his rivals' works were "dense," "pretentious" and "the sort of book that makes you wonder why it was ever published."
Hey, how could any of those harm sales of a books?
He also said his wife agreed to lie for him because she was worried about his health and he hinted that his actions could have been the result of some vague illness (is a quick stint in rehab coming up?).
Second rule: when apologizing, apologize. "I admit I poked him in the eye with a stick but I didn't mean to hurt him and I really wasn't myself that day" doesn't really do the job, does it?
I worked briefly in academia, teaching at the University of Southern California. One of the reasons I stopped was the bickering and in-fighting between departments (I was teaching for two rival departments and therefore caught in the crossfire.)
If you ever want to write a soap opera and can't come up with ideas for bitchiness, spend a little time in the academic world, you'll come away with loads!