On the cover: Sandra Susan Smith. Photograph by Jim Harrison
Letters
Cambridge 02138
"Shoddy," maskupmanship, American exceptionalism
The Basics
President Bacow on the principles by which to steer the University
The Home Front
Balancing past obligations, the pandemic, and the future of Harvard’s core mission
May-June 2021
On the cover: Sandra Susan Smith. Photograph by Jim Harrison
Features
Jobs and Jail
Sandra Susan Smith studies work and incarceration in an unequal, atomized America.
al-Hariri
Brief life of a master storyteller
Straight-Up News
Chris Wallace has “the toughest job of any television journalist.”
Democracy Requests the Pleasure of Your Company
Active citizens are humanists.
RIGHT NOW Harvard research and ideas
Power, Petitions, and the People
Petitioning campaigns are a vital complement to democratic voting.
Is There Better Than Better?
Ellen Langer rejects binary thinking, embracing instead a “third way.”
Linking Mental and Fiscal Health
Around the globe, Vikram Patel finds, improvements in financial or mental health support both.
John Harvard's Journal University news
COOP Conversion
Renovation and consolidation at a Harvard Square institution
Education, Reschooled
Harvard Graduate School of Education introduces core courses and a restructured professional curriculum.
Braxton Shelley
A gospel scholar shapes music theory.
Yesterday’s News
Headlines from Harvard’s history
This Spring, Next Fall
The spring semester, coronavirus KO’s in-person Commencement, and fall prospects
“Neither Comfort nor Cover”
A withering investigation of sexual harassment
Climate-Change Changes
Harvard Management Company issues its first “Climate Report,” and an update on divestment advocacy, and other institutions’ progress
News Briefs
Bigger Allston ambitions, an admissions-lawsuit appeal, and a new center for cities
Brevia
Less construction in prospect, quantum science and engineering, and more
Between Harvard and St. Louis
The Undergraduate learns about making knowledge mutual.
The Bottomless Sport
Andrew Rueb’s experience on the professional tennis circuit informs his coaching.
Montage Books, creative arts, performance and more
A Life in Harmonica
Scott Albert Johnson finds his path.
The Tensions That Roiled Texas
Annette Gordon-Reed on the real history of Texas, and Juneteenth
Finding Voices
Marilyn Booth translates Arabic literature for Anglophone readers.
Off the Shelf
Recent books with Harvard connections
Not Just “Office Helpers”
From a huge new book on the history of information, an excerpt on the role of secretaries
“Like Driving at Night”
Maggie Shipstead’s time-spanning, globe-circling new novel
Transitions Gradual and Cataclysmic
Andrew Knoll on the planet’s past—and fraught future
Chapter & Verse
Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words
Harvard Squared What to do in Boston, Cambridge and beyond
A Cultural Escape
The renewed community life of a grand Cape Cod estate
Alexander Gassel’s “Painted Poetry”
A blend of Russian Orthodox iconography and mythical motifs
All American
The Worcester Art Museum spotlights baseball garb.
Al Fresco
Boston's Piattini Wine Café
Where to Gift Your Grad
They've got the mortarboard—now support these worthy brick-and-mortars.
Almuni Harvardians far and wide
Keeping Them Close
A pediatrician cares for a city’s children.
Vote Now
The Overseer and Harvard Alumni Association director slates