Commentary
The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Classic Example of a Black Swan
A Black Swan is an event, positive or negative, that is deemed improbable yet causes massive consequences. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan, 2007
Robert Bradley
Commentary
Celebrating Uncle Tom – He Isn’t Nearly What You Think He Is
In preparation for a talk on the life and import of Frederick Douglass, I was encouraged by my daughter, Katie, to read Uncle Tom's Cabin. Like many of us, I knew about the importance of Harriet Beecher Stowe's great novel in the cause of abolition of
Culture
America Didn’t Just Happen; These Are Some of the People Who Made It What It Is
The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West By David McCullough Simon & Schuster May 2019 352 pages David McCullough has written another superb history, The Pioneers. Admittedly, it is not in the same class as his two magisterial biographies, Truman and John Adams,
Commentary
Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos Hoax: A 21st Century Ponzi Scheme
If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. (American Proverb)
Commentary
First Kill All the Chancery Courts: An Essay on Charles Dickens’s ‘Bleak House’
Today I finished Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Eight hundred eighty pages serialized in the usual nineteen parts between March 1852 and September 1853. It was not an easy read but it was worthwhile. Bleak House was written after Oliver Twist and David Copperfield but before A Tale of Two
Education
The Diversity Disaster
The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture By Heather Mac Donald St. Martin's Press In her superb book The Diversity Delusion, Heather Mac Donald explains how reflexive accusations of racism and sexism, the demand for "safe spaces," and
Commentary
Hawaiians Journey to Park Street Church to Celebrate Commissioning of First Missionaries to Their Islands in 1819
Last week, over 100 Hawaiians flew to Boston to commemorate the commissioning of missionaries at historic Park Street Church two hundred years ago. Many Hawaiians leaders made the journey. Peter Young, the great-great-grandson of the mission's leader, Hiram Bingham, played a key role in the celebration at the
Commentary
Frederick Douglass: Greatest African-American of the 19th Century
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom By David W. Blight Simon & Schuster October 2018 Frederick Douglass was the Martin Luther King Jr. of the 19th century. Former slave, author, orator, and statesman, Douglass was the principal black figure in the fight to abolish slavery. Over his long career, he became