Thursday, February 07, 2008
Drew Faust in WashPo
There's a gushing profile of Drew Faust in today's Washington Post.
There are a number of things that make Drew Gilpin Faust different from those who've come before her as head honcho of America's flagship university.
..."This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War" is the culmination of a scholarly career that Faust's historian peers laud as unusually productive and original. If you're looking for what separates her from the Harvard pack, that career is an essential starting point.
Interesting! You'd think a Harvard president had never written a book before.
And this is to take away nothing from Drew Faust—her book sounds fascinating, and I'm looking forward to reading it. The University is wisely using it as an excuse to get her out there doing some press.
(But it's worthy of remark about such pieces that, because they're pegged to her book, they say virtually nothing about Harvard, and often what is said is slightly derogatory: If you're looking for what separates her from the Harvard pack.... No one from Harvard, oddly, other than Faust is actually interviewed for this piece.)
In any event, there's something silly about such ahistorical writing about a historian. ¶ 6:16 AM
There are a number of things that make Drew Gilpin Faust different from those who've come before her as head honcho of America's flagship university.
..."This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War" is the culmination of a scholarly career that Faust's historian peers laud as unusually productive and original. If you're looking for what separates her from the Harvard pack, that career is an essential starting point.
Interesting! You'd think a Harvard president had never written a book before.
And this is to take away nothing from Drew Faust—her book sounds fascinating, and I'm looking forward to reading it. The University is wisely using it as an excuse to get her out there doing some press.
(But it's worthy of remark about such pieces that, because they're pegged to her book, they say virtually nothing about Harvard, and often what is said is slightly derogatory: If you're looking for what separates her from the Harvard pack.... No one from Harvard, oddly, other than Faust is actually interviewed for this piece.)
In any event, there's something silly about such ahistorical writing about a historian. ¶ 6:16 AM
