Molly Worthen

Impressive for a work which began during the author's undergraduate education. I appreciated that Ms. Worthen (now Professor Worthen, a historian of American religion at UNC-Chapel Hill) lets the reader know that, at the time, she feared not being up to the task of writing the biography of a complex person. At times, her voice does indeed sound quite young. That being said, she does a much better job than I could have at a comparable age. I also appreciated that she was very upfront that she had worshipped Charles Hill when she began the project; she tries to be objective and does an admirable job, under the circumstances.

I began reading TMOWNWL because of a connection to my own education: Charles Hill teaches what is essentially Intro to Political Philosophy as part of an intense freshman Great Books program which I took 25 years ago. Hill is a cult figure on that campus. If I had not had that personal connection, I probably would not have found the book or read it. I'm enjoyed it, but the target market is fairly narrow: those who are very interested in (i) debates about the place of the canon in humanities education, (ii) the Foreign Service, (iii) what it's like to work for the Secretary of State or (iv) what it's like to write an authorized biography of an imposing, and somewhat intimidating figure.… (more)