Because Cosby

Poor Mark Whitaker.  Late last year his book came out and it's already out of date--Cosby: His Life And Times. (Check the Amazon link and you'll see quite a few commenters taking Whitaker to task, like it's his fault).

It happens, of course, but how could Whitaker have known a month or so after his book was published a scandal would erupt that would change how everyone looked at America's favorite comedian.  Whitaker himself was apparently aware of the rumors, but decided not to go into them.

Instead, we get lines like this from the introduction:

[Cosby] can already envision what historians will say about him.  They will focus, rightly, on his iconic place in the annals of television. [....] They will analyze his contributions to children's educational television. [....] Most of all, cultural historians will measure the seismic impact of The Cosby Show on the entertainment industry and on American society. [...T]hey will point out how, by implanting such a positive image of black family life in the national consciousness, it helped Americans envision sending a black president and his wife and daughters to live in the White House less than two decades later.

The funny thing is before the scandal broke I might have put up a post on how I disagreed with Whitaker's claims, but now it's not even worth explaining how he missed the boat.

By the way, the book is pretty good if you can forget about...you know.