Those for whom history is an incomprehensible nightmare may find relief reading the works of Jill Lepore (If Then; Joe Gould's Teeth; The Secret History of Wonder Woman), academic historian, Harvard professor, New Yorker writer, and public intellectual. The Deadline compiles an extensive collection of Lepore's writing dedicated to history that is both personal and political--from the grand ballrooms of global affairs and headline events to the peculiar intimacies of quiet lives. As a preeminent scholar and writer who is also a woman and mother, Lepore writes with a distinct perspective and sophistication, with wisdom, and with agony about a profession--and a world--dominated by men. But the collection is far from exclusively devoted to history or the faculty lounge. Rather, Lepore's 46 essays include thoughts on her relationships with her father and mother, the latter's life told in parallel with an account of Jane Franklin, Ben Franklin's sister; literature (Frankenstein as a slave narrative, and the life of Herman Melville); America's history and its present (the life of Eugene Debs, the history of the U.S. Supreme Court, and an account of the torture regime of the Bush administration); and her love of biking.
Her curiosity's intensity is matched only by its scope; the sheer variety of topics will surprise and delight readers who revel in the perhaps dying art of a great generalist. The Deadline superbly chronicles the many crises and joys of our times--and their origins in times long past. --Walker Minot, writer, editor, and reviewer