Weekend Reading
Writing worth reading - 13th/14th January 2024
The Night of the Big Wind, 1839 by Albert Bierstadt
“‘Notwithstanding the snow, the day was not cold,’ recalled Tomás Ó Néill Ruiséal (Thomas O’Neill Russell), who was on his family farm near Moate, County Westmeath when the storm blew in. ‘There was not even a breath of wind. But there was something awful in the dark stillness of that winter day, for there was no sunlight coming through the thick, motionless clouds that hung over the earth’”
How Harvard’s Board Broke Up With Claudine Gay by Maureen Farrell and Rob Copeland
“But within two weeks, the once strong support had begun to dissolve, according to interviews with a dozen people with knowledge of the discussions, including those who had spoken directly with Dr. Gay, Ms. Pritzker and other board members or were briefed on their thinking and actions. They requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak about the deliberations publicly. As the board members flew to ski towns and beaches for the holidays, they had a dramatic change of heart about their president ...”
How a Proxy Fight Over Campus Politics Brought Down Harvard’s President by Nicholas Confessore
“‘I think there are major problems with higher education, and Harvard represents a lot of those problems,’ said John D. Sailer, a senior fellow at the National Association of Scholars, a conservative education nonprofit. ‘To the extent those problems have been exposed, and skepticism increases towards the current best instantiation of higher education, I think that puts a lot of wind in the sails of reform.’”
Can democracy survive 2024 by Alec Russell
“But that seems unlikely. These elections take place against a backdrop of spreading illiberalism around the world, the weakening of independent institutions in a number of big democracies and a creeping disillusionment among younger people about the very point of elections …”
Upcoming meals with 9others
Wednesday 31st January— London — details and signup here.