July–Aug/14 | The University of Chicago Magazine

Volume 106, Number 6

July–Aug/14

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Features

Human capitalist

Reflections on the life and work of trailblazing economist Gary Becker.

City limits

Chicago Harris’s Gary Project joins forces with a dynamic new mayor to reframe the Indiana steel town’s future.

View from the page

Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens, AB’95, brings a UChicago intellectual spirit to the sword fight of political commentary.

Elevated discourse

How the University of Chicago, the great books craze, and a love of Goethe helped create the Aspen Institute.

Editor’s Notes

Internal affairs

Stepping into the whirlwind at the Magazine.

Letters

Readers appreciate a peek inside a cloistered religious order; a glimpse of retiring library director Judith Nadler’s career; the courage of the late George Anastaplo, AB’48, JD’51, PhD’64; the academic freedom of Milton Friedman, AM’33; the comfort of common cause against liberal bias; and more.

On the Agenda

Science forward

Argonne’s new director, Peter B. Littlewood, leads “dream teams” of scientists and engineers working to solve some of society’s most pressing challenges.

Course Work

Complex Oedipus

Philosopher Irad Kimhi teaches unhappiness in his own way.

Alumni Essays

A theory of the allocation of a Nobelist’s time

Steve Cicala, AB’04, takes the time to honor his unlikely but generous mentor Gary Becker.

Finding humility on the last frontier

Dorothee E. Kocks, AB’78, found dignity in humility after her career dropped out from under her.

UChicago Journal

Taste of UChicago

Alumni award recipients share dinner and reminiscences.

Guest author

Langston Hughes made a lasting impression as a visiting lecturer at the Laboratory Schools.

Going public

The most ambitious fundraising campaign in UChicago’s history will focus on inquiry and impact.

William Rainey Harper’s Index: Summer jobs report

The Metcalf Internship Program reaches a milestone.

Original Source: Margin call

A literary mystery hidden inside a 150-year-old copy of Homer’s Odyssey finds an answer.

Why we intervene

A scholar raises questions about the humanitarian claims of some military ventures.

Temperate forest

A new book examining the world’s natural landscapes challenges the idea of “the empty and the wild.”

Fig. 1: Mummy figures

The 89 mummies at the Oriental Institute include 13 humans, four cats, and a monkey paw.

Desktop folders

Simulating a protein that allows cells to run amok, researchers hunt for better cancer drugs.

Interview: New depths

Author James Cambias, AB’88, discusses the underwater world of his debut novel, A Darkling Sea.

For the record: University news

A new director for the Seminary Co-op, UChicago literary scholar Robert Morrissey wins the French Legion of Honor, Chicago Harris and the Social Sciences Division appoint new deans, the University's Center for the Economics of Human Development opens, and more.

Citations: Faculty research

Earth’s earliest birds show a strikingly narrow range of diversity, sleepless mothers pass on metabolic problems to their offspring, and early-childhood programs show benefits in Jamaica.

Peer review

Releases

The Magazine lists a selection of general interest books, films, and albums by alumni. For additional alumni releases, browse the Magazine’s Goodreads bookshelf.