As a practicing intellectual historian with the good fortune of having an academic teaching post—with no summer teaching commitments—the last weeks of August can be wrenching in relation to one’s summer work. I’ve spent large chunks the past three months reading, researching, and writing—essentially on one very difficult chapter of my manuscript. Letting that go to get ready for classes has been tough. Poor me, I know. But I’m quite grateful for the privilege. This was my first summer of that kind after many years in the academy. This wrenching has been especially tough because my ambitions were high: I Read more