I have previously mentioned how thrilled I am with Lewis Lapham‘s current project: Lapham’s Quarterly. The current issue, which focuses on education, is a fine and marvellous read.
Actually, the cost of the issue is more than justified just by the introductory essay. Lapham is on fire. Here’s a little bit:
Why would any politician in his or her right mind wish to confront an informed citizenry capable of breaking down the campaign speeches into their subsets of supporting lies? Burden the economy with too many customers able to decipher the hospital bills, or see around the corners of the four-color advertising, and the consequences would be terrible to behold. Not even the Federal Reserve Bank could slow down the domino effect likely to shuffle through the entire inventory of the American dream.
And another:
In college commencement speeches, as with the handing out of prizes for trendsetting journalism, I often hear it said that the truth shall make men free, but I notice that relatively few people know what the phrase means. The truth isn’t about the receipt of the diploma or acceptance into law school, not even about the thievery in Washington or the late-breaking scandal in Hollywood. It’s synonymous with the courage derived from the habit of not running a con game on the unique and specific temper of one’s own mind. What makes men and women free is learning to trust their own thought, possess their own history, speak in their own voices.
As an aside, I am entirely jealous of Lapham’s experience with Mr. Charles Mulholland. I had a similar experience with one of my high school teachers, but the details Lapham recounts do appeal.
The full essay is available online, along with a couple of selections from the issue. As with the previous two issues (I missed the first) I would heartily recommend it to anyone with even a tangential interest in the topic.
In fact, I’ll go another step and heartily recommend a subscription for anyone looking to combine something that reads well in short doses, with a delivery system for a rich historical context for important issues. It’s the perfect magazine for people who want to expand their understanding of the full dimension of some of the big ideas. Of all the magazines I read, it’s both the most useful, and the one that has the highest rereadability. Plus those essays.
If I’ve piqued your interest, check out the site at least. If I’ve almost, but not quite, piqued your interest, check out these articles:
Lapham’s Quarterly: Cutting-Edge Journalism From The Distant Past
F. Scott Fitzgerald, It Seems, Never Met Lewis Lapham
In His Own Magazine, an Editor Puts Himself Into an Elite Group
