Now available in Political Theory

My essay on Herodotus and realism has just been published in Political Theory. You may access the article here.

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2019 - 2021 Courses

Tenure, a sabbatical, and -- most important -- the arrival of two new members to my family have pulled me away from regular updates to my site here. I'm now adding course syllabi, so under TEACHING above you can find the following, which I've taught since 2018. Living a Democratic Life (Summer 2020). A special seminar for Outer Coast , a nascent two-year institution of higher education in Sitka, Alaska. Energetic and thrilling discussions of John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government. Reflecting on Black Lives Matter protests organized by Anchorage-based students. Facilitating reflection on “the power of the people” embodied – in virtual form – by the Student Body. Through this course, I delighted in helping to construct a self-reflective community, not just teaching students about the meanings and possibilities of democracy but collaborating on a more democratic way of being together, be that through playing Scribl.io or talking about the politics of ancient Athens. Anti-Poli
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DeLillo, Herodotus, and the stones of Athens

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 Don DeLillo’s The Names begins with what feels like a long camera take, trailing a character from behind as he walks around the streets of the Plaka, the central market district of Athens. The longer the shot continues, however, the more you realize that the man who’s leading you is not the central character. There’s someone, something else. You keep glimpsing it between the blocks, above the antennas and awnings and electrical wires. It’s apparitional, a massive presence that seems to hover in the middle distance, glimmering and impassive beneath the bright Mediterranean sunshine. At long last the character stops in an open plaza, pauses, then looks up. The camera follows. The Acropolis rises like a brilliant white column shooting skyward, its pillars and pediments strident yet effortless. The high city. I gasped when I first glimpsed the Acropolis. I was stepping onto the balcony of an apartment I’d rented for six weeks in Kolonaki, a wealthy neighborhood in central Athens. My host,
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Life, death, and Herodotus

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I received my contract from Chicago just a few weeks after my first child was born. My wife and I had moved across the country for the birth. She grew up in southern California so we chose Laguna Beach for its gorgeous location and proximity to friends and family. I finished the semester at Bryn Mawr and then joined her for a few weeks before the due date. Our son arrived on New Year’s Eve.   The first few months were a challenge and a joy beyond imagination. The radical rupture in our routines felt less significant than the swelling of emotion. I was suddenly growing larger. Listening to a broadcast of the Philadelphia Orchestra, tears streaked my cheeks and splashed dark gray on my son’s white swaddle. That he could experience this beautiful world, that he could share Chopin and surfing and the fields of lupines that waved from the hillsides a few months into his life – this was all so much, too much, completely overwhelming. I wept too when I read reports published early that year a
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