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Forget? I wasn't even alive at the time!
(That's illuminating, I had presumed it was controversial from the word go)
It was, but that's just it; it was controversial, as in there was genuine disagreement, as distinct from being universally condemned.
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He was controversial; I vaguely remember a Gould polemic against the Bell Curve, back in the day (thought it was in the Mismeasure of Man, but that was published in 1981).
The difference was controversial meant "lots of people criticize you and imply bad things about you," not "you get blocked from all media organs for all eternity, as does anyone you're associated with."
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