{"product_id":"lapham-lewis-h-the-educathb","title":"[11\/03\/26] Burdick, Kelly (ed.): The Education of Lewis Lapham (HB)","description":"\u003cp\u003eOR Books, hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublication Date: November 3, 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublisher Marketing:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis engaging memoir, assembled with precision from Lewis Lapham's extensive archive, tells the story of an editor, essayist, and political journalist distinguished by his erudition, elegance and, above all, originality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBorn in 1935 in San Francisco, Lapham was raised in opulent privilege in the city's Pacific Heights neighborhood. His great grandfather was a founder of the oil giant Texaco and his grandfather served as mayor of San Francisco; he also counted among his ancestors Henry Dearborn, Thomas Jefferson's secretary of war.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the family fortune having been largely dissipated by war and carelessness, Lewis embarked on earning a living in journalism. After stints as a newspaper reporter in San Francisco and New York, and as a feature writer for \u003ci\u003eThe Saturday Evening Post\u003c\/i\u003e--for which he covered the Johnson White House and the Beatles' journey to Rishikesh, India--he became editor of \u003ci\u003eHarper's Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e in 1976, a position he held for nearly 30 years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDescribed by Kurt Vonnegut as \"without doubt America's greatest satirist,\" Lapham turned the privilege of his own background into a vantage point for a coruscating critique of the fecklessness and superficiality of what he called the \"equestrian class.\" Under his tenure, \u003ci\u003eHarper's\u003c\/i\u003e was widely celebrated for its wit and evisceration of an American ruling class that Lewis, drawing on a deep knowledge of ancient history and classical literature, regularly compared to those who oversaw the collapse of the Roman empire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmong the writers Lewis championed in the pages of\u003ci\u003e Harper's\u003c\/i\u003e, and who populate this delightfully readable memoir, are Annie Dillard, Tom Wolfe, George Plimpton, David Foster Wallace, Christopher Hitchens, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Marilynne Robinson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2006 Lapham left \u003ci\u003eHarper's\u003c\/i\u003e and founded\u003ci\u003e Lapham's Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e, which became acclaimed for putting current events into conversation with history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Open Books: A Poem Emporium","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45118186520599,"sku":"9781682194720","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0004\/6497\/7956\/files\/81Q_lQdGOIL._SL1500.jpg?v=1781904675","url":"https:\/\/open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com\/products\/lapham-lewis-h-the-educathb","provider":"Open Books: A Poem Emporium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}