All for Nothing is an extraordinary novel by the German author, Walter Kempowski. Deeply rooted in fact and decades of research, the novel moved me, more than expected, and has secured a long-term place in my head. Trying to figure out how it achieved this – and why I’m so keen on having others read…
Author: David Potash
Perils of Meritocracies
In 1958, British sociologist Michael Young wrote a dystopian satirical novel called The Rise of the Meritocracy. The book skewered standardized testing and credentialing, imagining how elites could employ them to secure corruptive power. Young’s book was popular but his arrows missed their mark. The novel helped to speed meritocracy’s presence in the zeitgeist, for…
Communication Matters
The old saw “never judge a book by its cover” is especially true when it comes to the self-help genre. Book jackets promise to reveal secrets, to unlock the mysteries of success, and to help leaders transform themselves into being exceptional, wealthy and wise. If only it were so. I sort self-help books into three…
A Shameful History
Baseball, apple pie, mom and hatred of Jews? Is that prejudice so deeply woven into American history? Sadly, as Pamela S. Nadell writes in Antisemitism, An American Tradition, the “persistence of old ideas about evil Jews and the evolution of new ones” has been and remains a “powerful American tradition.” Nadell is exactly the right…
Lessons and Inspiration from a Teacher, Educator & Leader
A resume is a fine way to document professional accomplishments, from academic degrees to job titles. A resume falls short, though, when it comes to issues of challenge, perseverance and accountability, the curve balls that life can throw at us. A resume can summarize a career, but it cannot tell much about a person’s character.…
Casualties From A Forgotten War
In Jack London’s dystopian 1908 science fiction novel, The Iron Heel, the threat of socialists gaining power stirs oligarchs to mobilize the power of the state to crush opposition. They use propaganda and force, along the ways making sure to differential the “good” unions from those that might cause problems for those in power. The…
American Higher Education – A History of Racial Inequity
Public higher education in the United States has a long and problematic legacy when it comes to issues of racial equity. In fact, the history is profoundly inequitable. The State Must Provide: The Definitive History of Racial Inequality in American Higher Education is an accessible, non-academic treatment of the topic with a focus on Black…