Shots in the Dark

So as I write this, I’m in the midst of the publication of my second book, which is called Harvard Rules—The Struggle for the Soul of the World’s Most Powerful University. For those who haven’t experienced it, the process of having a book published is bizarre, exciting, scary, and unpredictable. (Sometimes, it’s boring, but I haven’t experienced that yet.) The process can also be frustrating, because you, the writer, can feel weirdly passive and incapacitated—you’ve worked for years on this project, and suddenly everyone else is having their say, but you have no way of responding to what other folks are saying about your book.

Well, you could write anonymous reviews on Amazon. But I’m shying away from that approach.

Which brings me to Shots in the Dark. The initial reason for this blog is to chronicle the experience of book publication. The reviews, the readings, the controversy, the hostile letters, the nice ones. My book also happens to be a part of a story that’s in the news right now—the feud between Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers and a good portion of the Harvard faculty. Having reported on this story for over two years now, I have some thoughts about what’s going on up in the 02138 zip code, and I’ll write them here.

Beyond Harvard, Shots in the Dark will focus on politics and popular culture, two interests of mine that frequently overlap. Some years back, I was an editor at George magazine, which covered the intersection of just these areas. I miss George, which shut down at the end of 2000, and I don’t see much like it in the magazine/media world these days. So I’ll share some thoughts about those subjects as well. They may not have much impact or shed much light—hence, “Shots in the Dark”—but at the very least, I hope they generate some discussion.

Tomorrow will be a fascinating day at Harvard—the second faculty meeting devoted to debate over President Summers’ leadership of Harvard. It should be dramatic, and I’ll post some thoughts about what happened as soon as it’s over….

Meantime, thanks for reading. I hope you’ll keep me on my toes with comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Here goes….

Coming soon!