Maxwell School News and Commentary

Why write a book that appears to be calling for greater self-focus, for the cultivation of more "inwardness," when we appear to have a surfeit of damaging self-centered introspection as it is? Because, Professor of History Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn says in her new book, "Ars Vitae," today’s self-obsession entails "a false kind of inwardness. It’s a sham, It’s not the real thing."

"'Britain at Bay'...might be the single best examination of British politics, society and strategy in these four years that has ever been written," said reviewer Paul Kennedy about Associate Professor of History Alan Allport's book.

"She writes in a way that makes her readers better thinkers, more reflective and self-aware, and she does so by showing the development of her own thinking—who her influences are, the sources from which she draws her wisdom, and how philosophy informs her understanding of herself, the culture, and the world in which she lives," reads a review of Professor Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn's book, "Ars Vitae: The Fate of Inwardness and the Return of the Ancient Arts of Living."

Writer and literary scholar Ruth Klüger died October 5, 2020. "She reminds us that making a more humane and tolerant world requires accountability and unmovable courage in criticism," writes Robert Terrell, assistant professor of history.

Alan Allport, associate professor of history, was interviewed for a two-part feature on History Extra, the BBC's History podcast, about his forthcoming book "Britain at Bay: The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1938-1941" (Penguin Random House, November 2020). 

"In short, the pandemic has led to greater fear of Chinese unfair practices, not less," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics.