Essays

1094 results
Page 102
1007 prideandprejudice

Obama as a literary figure

In the New York Times, Maureen Dowd recently equated Barack Obama with Jane Austen’s prideful Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. A careful parsing of Dowd’s column suggests that the Democratic candidate is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Rick Soisson

Rick Soisson

Essays 5 minute read

Lost in Lyon

Don’t talk to me about the best-laid plans etc. I just spent 15 hours in Lyon during which all my pre-plans went completely awry— yet this pit stop was astonishingly productive. Of course it helps if you’re a retired professor with a gift of gab and a talent for making lemonade out of lemons.
Patrick D. Hazard

Patrick D. Hazard

Essays 6 minute read

South America's 'Gringo Trail'

What compels the sons and daughters of wealthy nations (like me) to cram a few pieces of clothing into a backpack and spend months exploring Third-World South America? Mostly we travel to temporarily escape the materialism of our homelands.

Be'eri Moalem

Essays 9 minute read
987 newyorker 190

Political satire and the New Yorker's cover

What’s the real meaning of that satirical New Yorker cover depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as closet Muslim terrorists? Here’s a better question: What hope is there for satire in a post-literate society?
Rick Soisson

Rick Soisson

Essays 6 minute read
988 Turin Italy 01 360a032507

Touring in Torino

The once gritty northern Italian industrial city of Turin has been transformed into a vibrant cultural center. Few Americans have discovered it yet. Our peripatetic cheapskate professor, Patrick D. Hazard, offers a few tips.
Patrick D. Hazard

Patrick D. Hazard

Essays 5 minute read
983 Homebrew

Satisfactions of home brewing

Let's face it, there's not much left that you can make at home that outshines its commercial equivalents. Homebrewed beer is the exception. And anyone who can make a good beef stew can make beer.
Lynn Hoffman

Lynn Hoffman

Essays 5 minute read

New York's baseball/money conundrum

Oh, for the sporting life in New York. When the going gets tough there, the toughest baseball executives….. find excuses.
Rick Soisson

Rick Soisson

Essays 3 minute read
981 gorbanevskaya

The "Prague Spring,' 40 years later

Forty years after Soviet troops smothered the Prague Spring, the Soviet Union is dead and Prague itself has become an inexhaustible panorama of the liberating effects of freedom at work.
Patrick D. Hazard

Patrick D. Hazard

Essays 7 minute read
966 bodies

"Bodies, Inc.'

So you thought dead bodies are useless? Bodies….the Exhibition has attracted throngs of spectators in a wildly successful nationwide tour. Where do these bodies come from? Funny you should ask….
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Essays 5 minute read
965 Grunewald 058

Professor's tour: Arts in Berlin

Broke and desperate, our favorite mad professor and professional skinflint parlays his gall and ingenuity into two memorable days of cultural stimulation in Berlin, and urges you to do likewise.
Patrick D. Hazard

Patrick D. Hazard

Essays 8 minute read