The Questioning Librarian

An ISIS militant destroys a statue in Nimrud Last month, the civilized world was horrified at the sack of yet another site of historical significance, as ISIS vandals bulldozed the city of Nimrud in Iraq, once a center of power in the Assyrian Empire. It was hardly the first time they had acted in their quest to destroy "idols," nor are they the only group to have taken similar measures. The Taliban in Afghanistan took dynamite to the great Buddhas of Bamiyan, reducing the 1,700-year old statues to rubble. These groups may cloak their destruction in the guise of following their religion, but this contempt for the past is a hallmark of many totalitarian ideologies. The Chinese government denies the massacre at Tienanmen Square, where an unknown number of Chinese citizens, possibly thousands, were killed, and actively blocks Internet content referencing the incident.  Even more shameful are the historical whitewashings of supposedly non-totalitarian governments an...

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a conference on Social Thought here in State College. The event began on Friday evening with a keynote address by noted sociologist Frances Fox Piven, a fitting choice for a conference with a focus on inequality given her work on poverty in the United States. Just as interesting as her address were a number of papers presented by current grad students and faculty the next day, on topics as diverse as the "Sunflower" Movement in Taiwan, the rhetoric of the C.I.A.'s kill list, and Sojourner Truth's conception of equality. It was incredibly heartening to see so much bright young talent, but what was less heartening was Piven's statement the night before that no matter how brilliant a grad student may be, the likely future of most will be the serfdom of permanent adjunct status. Piven lamented the attack on universities, pointing out the role of states in gutting financial support, in administrators creating ever-...