Reviving History • John Muir • Art Museums Remodeled November-December 2014 • $4.95 Orlando Patterson Interpreter of slavery and freedom S:14” THERE’S MORE TO THE IMAGE THAN ANYONE THOUGHT POSSIBLE. S:9.25” stered trademarks stered trademarks ges simulated. or trademarks in other countries. All third party logos, product and brand names are trademarks of their respective owners. Ima owners. of their respective names are trademarks in other countries. All third party logos, product and brand or trademarks ©2014 Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon, DIGIC and EOS are registered trademarks of Canon Inc. in the United States and may also be regi ©2014 Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon, DIGIC and EOS are registered trademarks SEE BEAUTIFUL IMAGERY | SEE A HOLLYWOOD RENAISSANCE | SEE BETTER DIAGNOSTICS | SEE SELF-PUBLISHING | SEE ADVANCED EYECARE 141141_Canon_Harvard.indd 1 9/26/14 9:14 AM S:14” THERE’S MORE TO THE IMAGE THAN ANYONE THOUGHT POSSIBLE. S:9.25” stered trademarks stered trademarks ges simulated. or trademarks in other countries. All third party logos, product and brand names are trademarks of their respective owners. Ima owners. of their respective names are trademarks in other countries. All third party logos, product and brand or trademarks ©2014 Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon, DIGIC and EOS are registered trademarks of Canon Inc. in the United States and may also be regi ©2014 Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon, DIGIC and EOS are registered trademarks SEE BEAUTIFUL IMAGERY | SEE A HOLLYWOOD RENAISSANCE | SEE BETTER DIAGNOSTICS | SEE SELF-PUBLISHING | SEE ADVANCED EYECARE 141141_Canon_Harvard.indd 1 9/26/14 9:14 AM Think it takes more than a school of education to change the world? You’re right. It takes a policy think tank, an innovation laboratory, and a launch pad for transformative leaders. It takes the world’s finest research university, working hand-in-hand with educators across the globe. It takes the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Join us. gse.harvard.edu/campaign NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2014 VOLUME 117, NUMBER 2 FEATURES 43 The Caribbean Zola | by Craig Lambert Sociologist (and novelist) Orlando Patterson’s epic encounter with slavery and freedom 50 Vita: John Muir | by Steven Pavlos Holmes Brief life of a Scottish-American conservationist: 1838-1914 p. 78 52 The New Histories | by Jonathan Shaw Humanity’s past reinterpreted—globally, through science, and in economic and other perspectives 58 Yearning to Escape | by Ian S. MacNiven The era of James Laughlin’s passage to Harvard, Europe, and publishing at New Directions p. 104 JOHN HARVard’s JournAL 18 The Art Museums renewed, fall news—from an Instagram- savvy College dean and advancements in teaching to employee-benefit cuts, an immigration-law specialist, robust capital-campaign results (and Design and Education Schools’ kickoffs), National Medalist dean, aflutter over drum majorettes, underpinning public health, the market-matching endowment, vice-presidential departures, divestment discussions, the Undergraduate carves out her own space on campus, fast start for footballers, and anticipating p. 52 a shooting guard’s on-court moves DEPARTMENTS 4 Cambridge 02138 | Letters from our readers 5 The View from Mass Hall 11 Right Now | Overcoming ethical blind spots, magnetism and mood disorders, data-driven city governance 16A Harvard2 | A calendar of seasonal events, gospel music, Russian icons: the museum, weapons as art, a winter greenhouse retreat, and carnivorous dining on ). F. 63V; 63V; F. ). I the Cambridge-Somerville line RUNDEL 83 ( A 71 | A very public artist, Republican Party polarities, the long-term heart- Montage MS break of the Middle East, the freedom to play music badly, musical notation, and more OARD B RARY/HARVARD UNIVERSITY B 80 | Helping veterans find missions stateside, jobs wanted, and I Alumni L RARY/ B Harvardians in World War I OUGHTON H 84 The College Pump | Submarining Cape Cod, motoring to The Game HE BRITISH LI T p. 18 104 Treasure | Etienne de Silhouette’s eponymous penny-pinching portraiture ARRISON (2); H FROM TOP: © JIM 85 Crimson Classifieds On the cover: Photograph by Stu Rosner www.harvardmagazine.com Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 LETTERS EDITOR: John S. Rosenberg Cambridge SENIOR EDITOR: Jean Martin MANAGING EDITOR: Jonathan S. Shaw Teaching writing, legacy admissions, the sly Slive, louts ART DIRECTOR: Jennifer Carling DEPUTY EDITOR: Craig Lambert TAXING CARBON ed States, yet another tax break for the ASSISTANT EDITOR-ONLINE: Laura Levis It was exciting to see the cover story wealthy would be quite unfair. ASSISTANT EDITOR: Nell Porter Brown “Taxing Carbon (and boosting the econo- Second, he states that the damages from STAFF WRITERS: Stephanie Garlock, my)” (September-October, page 52). Tax- emissions can be approximated as $30 Sophia Nguyen ing carbon is likely the most effective way per ton of CO2. He seems to say that this to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. How- amount of tax is the most we can “afford” BERTA GREENWALD LEDECKY ever, I would like to question two points of and would be good enough. However, our UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWS Professor Dale Jorgensen’s plan. goal should be the elimination of emis- Olivia Munk, Melanie Wang First, he states that the most effective sions. To drive a changeover to renewable way of recycling the revenues would be to energy, we need a carbon tax that steadily, CONTRIBUTING EDITORS reduce taxes on capital. Given the sad, and and relentlessly, increases. This would send John T. Bethell, John de Cuevas, Dick growing, income disparity in the Unit- a signal to the market that we are enter- Friedman, Adam Goodheart, Elizabeth Gudrais, Jim Harrison, 7 WARE STREET Courtney Humphries, Christopher S. MIT should explore “game-based” learn- Johnson, Adam Kirsch, Colleen Lannon, A Faculty’s Vision ing, and “define a K-12 strategy” to expand Christopher Reed, Stu Rosner, Deborah offerings for pre-college students. Depart- Smullyan, Mark Steele On July 28, Harvard’s neighbor published ments should shape serial online courses the final report of the Institute-wide Task meant to qualify users for professional cer- HARVARD MAGAZINE INC. Force on the Future of MIT Education, and tification—and generate revenue. By 2020, PRESIDENT: Henry Rosovsky, JF ’57, obligingly made it available for interested “the roles of MITx instructor and MITx Ph.D. ’59, LL.D. ’98. DIRECTORS: Suzanne parties (web.mit.edu/future-report/Task- student may exist.” “Academic villages” Blier, Peter K. Bol, Jonathan L.S. Byrnes, ForceFinal_July28.pdf). Even in mid sum- should feature new kinds of classrooms, D.B.A. ’80, Thomas F. Kelly, Ph.D. ’73, mer, it made for gripping reading about labs, and “maker spaces.” And the recom- Lars Peter Knoth Madsen, Margaret H. teaching, learning, and research elsewhere mendations are tied to a suggested finan- Marshall, Ed.M. ’69, John P. Reardon Jr. in Cambridge, and beyond. cial model that could work, given MIT’s ’60, Bryan E. Simmons ’83 Those sober, calculating engineers turn revenues, costs, and aspirations. out to be giddy about transforming edu- Shrugging off MIT’s perspective as in- cation. The task force (faculty and staff applicable elsewhere—given its origin at BOARD OF INCORPORATORS This magazine, at first called the Harvard Bulletin, was members and students, plus alumni and an engineering school with a unified peda- founded in 1898. Its Board of Incorporators was char- governing-board advisory groups) embrac- gogy and an imminent capital campaign— tered in 1924 and remains active in the magazine’s es “modular” instruction units, rather than is shortsighted. In fact, the attempt to governance. The membership is as follows: Stephen J. Bailey, AMP ’94; Jeffrey S. Behrens ’89, William I. conventional courses; flexibility, so students engage both faculty and the wider com- Bennett ’62, M.D. ’69; John T. Bethell ’54; Peter K. Bol; may “reduce or extend their time to degree”; munity (through extensive surveys) in Fox Butterfield ’61, A.M. ’64; Sewell Chan ’98; Jona- than S. Cohn ’91; Philip M. Cronin ’53, J.D. ’56; John options for students to engage further in envisioning MIT’s educational future is de Cuevas ’52; James F. Dwinell III ’62; Anne Fadiman teaching and service; for-credit summer invigorating in and of itself. ’74; Benjamin M. Friedman ’66, Ph.D. ’71; Robert H. Giles, NF ’66; Richard H. Gilman, M.B.A. ’83; Owen classes in online and “blended” formats (five Will the result indeed “transform peda- Gingerich, Ph.D. ’62; Adam K. Goodheart ’92; Phil- experimental classes were held in 2014); gogy through bold but thoughtful experi- ip C. Haughey ’57; Brian R. Hecht ’92; Sarah Blaffer Hrdy ’68, Ph.D. ’75; Ellen Hume ’68; Alex S. Jones, NF revised undergraduate requirements (for mentation, extend MIT’s impact to the ’82; Bill Kovach, NF ’89; Florence Ladd, BI ’72; Jen- basic science, communications-intensive, world, broaden access to high-quality nifer 8 Lee ’99; Randolph C. Lindel ’66; Ann Marie and humanities, arts, and social-sciences education, and improve affordability for Lipinski, NF ’90; Scott Malkin ’80, J.D.-M.B.A. ’83; Margaret H. Marshall, Ed.M. ’69, Ed ’77, L ’78; Lisa L. courses); international connections among future generations of learners,” as its au- Martin, Ph.D. ’90; David McClintick ’62; Winthrop students, alumni, and MITx online learners thors hope? Perhaps not. But the odds are L. McCormack ’67; M. Lee Pelton, Ph.D. ’84; John P. Reardon Jr. ’60; Christopher Reed; Harriet Ritvo ’68, around the world; and more. certainly better than if they were never Ph.D. ’75; Henry Rosovsky, JF ’57, Ph.D. ’59, LL.D. ’98; Their ideas verge on breathtaking: “The asked to imagine what their institution Barbara Rudolph ’77; Robert N. Shapiro ’72, J.D.