Latest from the blog
Kids These Days
“Kids these days….” The phrase doesn’t need to be completed and usually isn’t. But the meaning is clear. Children have disappointed their parents. Or, if not their own, other parents’ kids have, with... READ MORE
A (Perennial) Conflict of Visions
Thomas Sowell published A Conflict of Visions thirty-five years ago, the first volume in a trilogy on the nature of political struggle. It was received with a yawn, by the establishment, at least.... READ MORE
Forgotten Radical
“He was buried in Hyde Park, his impact largely forgotten in the city and region that he loved enough to want to change.” Thus ends Kerry Greenidge’s 2020 biography of the–yes–much neglected... READ MORE
Confirmation Bias
We attend to data that support (confirm) our existing beliefs (biases). The phenomenon is so common it has a name: confirmation bias. I was aware of this process as I read Kerri... READ MORE
Who Tells Your Story?
I finished Ron Chernow’s definitive biography of Alexander Hamilton this month. It is easy to see how Lin-Manuel Miranda was inspired to write a musical about this overlooked “founding father without a father.”... READ MORE
Fatty’s Fall from Grace
Another centennial arrives: the infamous Labor Day, 1921, blow-out at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco; or, as New Yorker’s Michael Schulman put it, Fatty Arbuckle’s “deadly pajama party.” (“Fatty Arbuckle and the... READ MORE