The Path Not Taken

Nicholas Kristoff’s column in the February 16 edition of The New York Times about the irrelevancy of academic scholars in the national discussion has set off quite a conversation among my academic friends on social media. His point is that the academy contains some of the greatest minds in the world today, but too manyContinue Reading »

Worth Reading: Cronkite

Cronkite. By Douglas Brinkley. Harper Collins, 2012, 819 pp., $35. “From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 o’clock p.m., Central Standard Time, 2 o’clock, Eastern Standard Time, some thirty-eight minutes ago.” Last week I wrote about the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination that America commemorated last November. Among allContinue Reading »

The Original Mad Man

Lost in the news yesterday of the Super Bowl and the tragic death of Philip Seymour Hoffman was the death of another actor, one equally talented and brilliant: Maximillian Schell, dead at 83 on Saturday, February 1. If you’ve never seen him or heard of him, watch him in Judgment at Nuremberg, Stanley Kramer’s 1961Continue Reading »