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I.F. Stone
When I was a whelp, Stone was still around. I recall reading a magazine article by him, this was when I was a journalism student. I'd seen the name, but not read any of his stuff.
So when a copy of, "The Trial of Socrates" came into my folks store (where I spent 15-20 hours a week), I snagged it. Man, that was one hell of a book. It showed Stone in all his glory.
How, he wondered, did so strong a bastion of free speech as Athens, come to condemn a man for speaking? His conclusions (in short, Socrates used the Athenian courts to commit suicide) were solid. Why? Because he dug into the material, looked into the primary sources.
There's a lot more in that book (my lack of sympathy for Plato comes out of it).
Dan Froomkin opened a recent column like this, The best blogger ever died in 1989 at the age of 81.
He was, if you hadn't guessed, talking about I.F. Stone.
It's a solid piece, and worth reading, as is the biography Froomkin refers to.
Better yet, get one of Stone's books, and read that. Find a copy of Stone's Weekly, and read that.
If you really want to take it to heart, find some document dump, or a hearing transcript, and do what Stone did them, read it.
Then write.
So when a copy of, "The Trial of Socrates" came into my folks store (where I spent 15-20 hours a week), I snagged it. Man, that was one hell of a book. It showed Stone in all his glory.
How, he wondered, did so strong a bastion of free speech as Athens, come to condemn a man for speaking? His conclusions (in short, Socrates used the Athenian courts to commit suicide) were solid. Why? Because he dug into the material, looked into the primary sources.
There's a lot more in that book (my lack of sympathy for Plato comes out of it).
Dan Froomkin opened a recent column like this, The best blogger ever died in 1989 at the age of 81.
He was, if you hadn't guessed, talking about I.F. Stone.
It's a solid piece, and worth reading, as is the biography Froomkin refers to.
Better yet, get one of Stone's books, and read that. Find a copy of Stone's Weekly, and read that.
If you really want to take it to heart, find some document dump, or a hearing transcript, and do what Stone did them, read it.
Then write.
no subject
I met him once; I was 10 at the time and hardly remember him. My father was fired by the New York City school system for refusing to answer nosy & irrelevant questions from the McCarthy committee, and Stone wrote an excellent excoriation of the stupidity of the whole business.
no subject
I'm jealous.
TK
no subject