James Cameron: Completely stands by his man

Charles Pellegrino‘s book about Hiroshima may be thoroughly debunked right now, but that isn’t stopping it from selling: As this Boston Globe report notes, Last Train From Hiroshima “ranked No. 78 yesterday on Amazon.com” after being “in the 200s on Monday when Henry Holt and Co. halted publication.”

Meanwhile movie director James Cameron, who has in one way or another employed Pellegrino as his personal historian/scientist on most of his films, “is undaunted by the accusations of inaccuracy,” says this report, “claiming that his decision to proceed with the movie [of the Hiroshima book] would not be influenced ‘by the issue of a single flawed source,’ claiming it foolish ‘to ignore the rich vein of eyewitness testimony, so painstakingly gathered, that exists in Last Train from Hiroshima.'” A story from the Daily Telegraph quotes Cameron as saying, “All I know is that Charlie would not fabricate so there must be a reason for the misunderstanding.”

On Pellegrino’s website, meanwhile, he continues to call himself “Dr. Pellegrino,” while admitting that, as per the Telegraph article, “countered that his degree was revoked years ago in a dispute over evolutionary theory but later reinstated. The university said it is investigating.”