Wednesday, July 24, 2024
We all have many vivid memories of our founder and friend, Lewis H. Lapham, who died near Rome on the night of July 23-24 at eighty-nine.
He was of course celebrated for his elegant essays and incisive editing, most famously as the editor of Harper’s Magazine, followed by his work at the helm of Lapham’s Quarterly, which many have called a work of art. His ingenuity, skepticism, formidable work ethic, vast reading and often droll sense of fun, drew our admiration even in those cases when we might have disagreed with his contrarian and unpredictable opinions—political or otherwise.
Lewis was also one of the few major American literary and journalistic figures whose work spanned all the major media—print (newspapers and magazines), books, radio, TV, film (The American Ruling Class), and the internet; he was wisely wary about the last.
We laud his passion for showing readers the great value of historical knowledge, to individuals and the citizenry as a whole. He had come to see citizens’ knowledge of history as essential for a healthy democracy, and wide ignorance of it as ominous. That’s why he embarked on the arduous task of founding and preserving Lapham’s Quarterly—a publication like no other. And note that he was passionate not only about the selection of words but about the look of Harper’s and LQ. He had a strong eye for design, the apotheosis of which is the gorgeous Quarterly, to which he attracted a brilliant staff.
Others in the media in the past few days have published long and detailed descriptions of Lewis’ career and told of his memorable style, including the bespoke suits on his lean frame, his gold cufflinks, and his Parliament cigarettes. (His relentless smoking, however unhealthy, added a rather exotic and alluring layer to his patrician voice.)....
....MUCH MORE
We tried to visit Lapham's Quarterly at least once a month and some months once a week.
Information Asymmetry: Ida M. Tarbell Presents An Investment Opportunity
And most recently:
Lapham's Quarterly Energy Issue
—William Ophuls
