The world may not be getting better and better, but our devices are getting newer and newer.
Jill LeporeEpidemiologists study patterns in order to combat infection. Stories about epidemics follow patterns, too. Stories arent often deadly, but they can be virulent: spreading fast, weakening resistance, wreaking havoc.
Jill LeporeHistory is the art of making an argument about the past by telling a story accountable to evidence. In the writing of history, a story without an argument fades into antiquarianism; an argument without a story risks pedantry. Writing history requires empathy, inquiry, and debate. It requires forswearing condescension, cant, and nostalgia. The past isnโt quaint. Much of it, in fact, is bleak.
Jill LeporeOld reference books are like tree rings. Without them, there'd be no way to know what a tree had lived through.
Jill Lepore