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Chow PRINT SCALE: 100% Y TRIM: 8.125" x 10.875" BLEED: 8.875" x 11.125" SAFETY: 7.625" x 10.375" GUTTER: - PROOF#: 4 np 1.17 DISKING Pub List: K FONTS: Helvetica, ScalaSans, ScalaSans-Bold, ScalaSans-Caps, ScalaSans-FiguresBold IMAGES: NetJetsMoment4C.eps @ 44%, 6085014_Kiddycards_New crds.tif @ 65%, Speedbar_plane_10%_4c.tif @ 45% DOC PATH: Macintosh HD:Users:npristouris:Desktop:D6085014 TotalExp4cIvyLeague TOC-regional 2/10/06 12:44 PM Page 1 MARCH-APRIL 2006 VOLUME 108, NUMBER 4 FEATURES 25 The People’s Epidemiologists page 40 Sibling public-health specialists shine a sharp light on the socioeconomic and racial di≠erences that define disparities in well-being STU ROSNER page 74 by Madeline Drexler UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES 34 Rereading the Renaissance R I G H T N O W Foundational texts of humanist thought, in a new format, prove 13 A street sociologist probes race and sex, headphones harm hearing, learning their relevance to a twenty-first-century audience W.H. TOBEY/HARVARD more about lung power by Adam Kirsch DEPARTMENTS Vita: Mary Ingraham Bunting 2 Cambridge 02138 40 Communications from our readers Brief life of a bold educator: 1910-1998 by Elaine Yaffe 19 The Browser Appreciating art with John Updike, Telltale Apparatus social networking through poker, and 42 krazy for go-karts The radiant new home for the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments depicts the material culture of 24A New England Regional discovery Section A seasonal calendar, Cambridge’s by Christopher Reed sensible steak house, and fanciers of modern furnishings COVER ARTICLE 79 The Alumni 50 The Marketplace of Perceptions She studies snakes, Overseer Behavioralists challenge classical economics, the better and HAA director slates, on to explain why we make seemingly irrational choices to India, and more about health, wealth, and everyday negotiations page 34 84 The College by Craig Lambert Pump Lots of Loeb classics, John Harvard’s Journal and a marathoner’s 58 feat of trinitarian jug- Constructing a new campus skyline, Arts and Sciences dean LIBRARY/GETTY IMAGES gling departs, quantifying the building boom, academic growth stretch- es finances, learning about Listeria’s lurking menace, a pair of 96 Treasure University Professors appointed, medical ethicist on the A splendid Han horse ©THE BRIDGEMAN ART stands tall Corporation, reinventing (and rebuilding) the art museums, underage 85 Crimson Classifieds dates, a caustic critic’s collected works, narrating what went wrong in Russia, Islamic studies, College curriculum review comes to a vote, On the cover: Detail from the 1909 money-manager compensation, endowment support for the schools, helping oil painting Ulysses and the Sirens, by Herbert James Draper. lower-income undergraduates cope with costly Cambridge, suspect student ©The Bridgeman Art Library/ electioneering, swift swimmers, a wrap-up of winter sports, College fashion- Getty Images istas, and Rhodes and Marshall scholars TOM MOSSER page 19 Harvard Magazine 1 Letters .final 2/10/06 12:25 PM Page 2 LETTERS Editor: John S. Rosenberg Executive Editor: Christopher Reed Senior Editor: Jean Martin Managing Editor: Jonathan S. Shaw Deputy Editor: Craig Lambert Cambridge 02138 Production and New Media Manager: Mark Felton The imperiled middle class, money-managers’ pay, New Orleans Assistant Editor: Nell Porter Brown Art Director: Jennifer Carling Berta Greenwald Ledecky Undergraduate Fellows PURPLE PEOPLE AND OTHERS John A. La Rue, I believe Erin O’Donnell’s statement Elizabeth S. Widdicombe (“Twigs Bent Left or Right,” January-Feb- Editorial Interns: Stevie DeGro≠, Emer Vaughn, Ying Wang ruary, page 34)—that “people are much more purple than anything else. You don’t Contributing Editors find nearly the polarization suggested by John T. Bethell, John de Cuevas, Adam the media, or, frankly, by scholars”—to be Goodheart, Max Hall, Colleen Lannon, a correct characterization of today’s po- Jim Harrison, Harbour Fraser Hodder, litical reality. However, this reality goes Christopher S. Johnson, Adam Kirsch, unnoticed, if not deliberately ignored, by Bartek Malysa, Deborah Smullyan, Mark Steele, Janet Tassel, the two national parties. Edward Tenner The Republican and Democratic par- ties have essentially become competing Editorial and Business O≠ice entities for the acquisition and mainte- 7 Ware Street, nance of power without true regard for Cambridge, Mass. 02138-4037 the responsibility of governance. The Tel. 617-495-5746; fax: 617-495-0324 populace, although “purple,” is forced to Website: www.harvardmagazine.com choose between hard-line red and blue phy has not changed. Prior to the 1978 to Reader services: 617-495-5746 or 800-648-4499 ideologies in the voting booth. 1990 period, the Democratic party had There are liberals and there are conser- both liberals and conservatives, who HARVARD MAGAZINE INC. vatives to be sure, and although they are fought in the primaries. After 1978, when President: James O. Freedman ’57, L ’60 clearly numerical minorities, they still the Republican Bill Clements won the Directors: Je≠rey S. Behrens ’89, manage to control the political process of governorship, the Republican party Richard H. Gilman, M.B.A. ’83, Alex S. this country, while avoiding the needs of demonstrated that their candidates could Jones, Nf ’82, Bill Kovach, Nf ’89, Donella the vast “purple” majority. There never win. At the same time, the national De- Rapier, M.B.A. ’92, Kay Kaufman Shele- seems to be a single thing that a Democrat mocratic party moved farther to the left may, Alan J. Stone, Richard Tuck proposes that is acceptable to a Republi- and farther from the conservative main- Harvard Magazine (ISSN 0095-2427) is published bimonthly can, and vice versa. stream in the South. Your author quotes by Harvard Magazine Inc., a nonprofit corporation, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138-4037, phone 617- The most profound observation by Robert Blendon, who would like to blame 495-5746; fax 617-495-0324. The magazine is supported by O’Donnell is, “This polarization of the the switch on the race issue, but this was reader contributions and subscriptions, advertising rev- enue, and a subvention from Harvard University. Its edi- parties raises the stakes for the electorate, not the fact. As an example of your lack of torial content is the responsibility of the editors. Periodi- cals postage paid at Boston, Mass., and additional mailing since it decreases the likelihood of mod- knowledge, former Senator Phil Gramm’s o≠ices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Circulation erate or centrist governance.” I would name is incorrectly spelled “Graham.” Department, Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cam- bridge, Mass. 02138-4037. Subscription rate $30 a year in submit that the risk is now one of Frederick R. Meyer, M.B.A. ’58 U.S. and possessions, $55 Canada and Mexico, $75 other foreign. (Allow up to 10 weeks for first delivery.) Sub- whether governance is likely at all. Dallas scription orders and customer service inquiries should be Gary W. Farneti ’71 sent to the Circulation Department, Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138-4037, or call 617- Binghamton, N.Y. Editor’s note: The editors regret the error 495-5746 or 800-648-4499, or e-mail addresschanges@har- vard.edu. Single copies $4.95, plus $2.50 for postage and with Senator Gramm’s name. handling. Manuscript submissions are welcome, but we Your article shows the usual liberal cannot assume responsibility for safekeeping. Include stamped, self-addressed envelope for manuscript re- bias and a lack of knowledge of the South O’donnell quotes associate professor turn. Persons wishing to reprint any portion of Harvard Magazine’s contents are required to write in advance for and its politics. First, the Southern voter of government and Radcli≠e Institute permission. Address inquiries to Catherine A. has always been conservative. In Texas, Fellow J. Russell Muirhead as saying that Chute, publisher, at the address given above. Copyright 2006, Harvard Magazine Inc. where I have lived since 1967, the philoso- Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, © 2 March - April 2006 Letters .final 2/10/06 12:25 PM Page 4 running in 1964, argued that “there wasn’t fense of minorities,” Glazer says.