Amusing, insightful snapshots of Ivy League variegations.
A former Marine, who earned college degrees as a commuter, recounts living at each Ivy League school during an academic year in this memoir/guide.
After his four-year stint in the Marines, straight out of high school, formerly “academically horrible” Green (Marching to College: Turning Military Experience into College Admissions, 2004) transformed into a “college freak/snob,” earning several degrees, including from Ivy League schools. Yet because he had been an older commuter student, Green, who now works in higher education administration, felt he “never had the student experience.” This account reflects his attempt to rectify that situation by residing for 30 days at each Ivy League school during the 2004-05 academic year. He offers conversational sketches on school culture and lore, social encounters, and more, covering visits in chronological order: Cornell (stunning scenery, rollicking fraternity parties, “a sense of inferiority”), Brown (Ralph Nader speech, a cappella, a strip club), Dartmouth (lived in off-campus housing dubbed “The Experiment,” “adopted” by a sorority), Yale (was his mysterious student contact a secret society member?), University of Pennsylvania ( “obnoxious” tour guide Barry), Columbia (Barnard, bagels, marching band), Penn again (requested to return after blogging about Barry), Harvard (nearby MIT students were friendlier), and Princeton (an inspiring valedictorian speech, Nader’s reappearance as a visiting alumnus). While specifically referring to Cornellians, Green’s general takeaway from his experience was that all students were “complex, more thoughtful and talented than any caricature can express.” The account is naturally a bit dated, with the controversy over Lawrence Summer’s then-presidency, for example, taking up part of the Harvard entry. Yet the author also manages to capture a sense of the distinct underlying, evergreen flavor of each school, thus offering helpful intelligence that could prove useful to college-bound students and their parents. His writing style is also highly engaging and entertaining, with dry wit infusing this book, including teeing up each chapter with a school-specific iteration of the classic light bulb joke (at Harvard, apparently, only one student is needed, because “he just holds it up and the world turns around him”).
Amusing, insightful snapshots of Ivy League variegations.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 235
Publisher: The Leigh Publishing Comp
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweeping indictment that claims that America's political, military, and economic ties to Israel have obstructed the path to peace and run counter to both countries' interests. The authors—father George (The Past Has Another Pattern, 1982, etc.), a former undersecretary of state, and son Douglas (Financial Failure and Confederate Defeat, 1990—not reviewed)- -charge that Israeli leaders, through much of their nation's history, have subjected the American government to ``a mirage of untruths and bureaucratic obfuscation.'' Except for Eisenhower, who forced David Ben-Gurion to pull troops out of the Sinai during the Suez crisis, US Presidents have backed off from pressuring this US ally after initial protests against settlement policy or lack of military restraint (e.g., during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon). The authors' moral balance-scale sometimes seems unfairly stacked here: Arab terrorism, briefly mentioned, is labeled self-defeating, while Israeli attacks, explored in depth, are deemed attempts to wrest a people of their land, in violation of international law. Still, the Balls score points in arguing that America's ``passionate attachment'' (the phrase comes from Washington's farewell address) is imposing mounting costs, both fiscal ($3-4 billion in annual aid) and moral (Israel regularly defies Washington's attempt to slow the international arms bazaar). As recounted here, the Jonathan Pollard spy case, Israel's 1967 attack on the Liberty, and the nation's legal mistreatment of Arabs in the occupied territories are shocking, as is the authors' detailing of how leery US politicians are of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC (in his presidential campaign, Walter Mondale returned five $1,000 checks from Arab-Americans to avoid offending this powerful group). Often too lenient on the Arab part in this deadly stalemate- -but a frequently convincing call for a new Middle East diplomacy, shorn of cold-war tensions and reconciling Israeli security with Palestinian desire for a homeland. (Maps & tables—not seen.)
Pub Date: Nov. 16, 1992
ISBN: 0-393-02933-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1992
Who would have guessed that there are serious issues around menstruation, a bodily function that’s been around since Eve got tossed from Eden? This book makes them not only clear, but urgent. Dioxin poisoning, the psychological impact of secrecy and shame, and doubts about PMS are 1-2-3 on Village Voice journalist Houppert’s list. She takes on the $1.7-billion-dollar “personal products” industry with information that there is dioxin residue in the materials used to make most tampons. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there are no “acceptable” levels of dioxin; moreover, dioxin, which may affect reproduction, has a cumulative effect. Since it is women of reproductive age who use tampons(one woman may use as many as 11,400 of them in a lifetime), the industry’s claim that the dioxin in tampons poses no health threat should be met with skepticism at the least. In the second section, Houppert discusses how and what premenarchal girls learn about menstruation, how much of the secrecy and embarrassment surrounding menstruation is related to young girls’ burgeoning sexuality, and how the decreased age of menarche has been blamed, unfairly, for a so-called “epidemic” of teen sex. Premenstrual syndrome’s new official status (in the current diagnostic manuals) as a disease is also disturbing to Houppert, who wonders whether the cluster of symptoms that define PMS are a disease or a reaction to frustration and stress in many women’s lives. Prozac may bring relief to patients, but it’s also a financial boon to drug companies and health management organizations. The book wraps up with notes on the positive (“girl-power” Web sites, a new type of menstrual protection due on the market soon) and the bizarre (a Museum of Menstruation run by a man). Provocative journalism—the kind that provides information on questions no one even thought to ask—on a subject that impacts all girls and women, plus their teachers and physicians. (b&w illustrations)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-374-27366-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
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