Pulitzer Prize winner comes to campus
Katie Barry
Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: News
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History repeats itself.
It's a problematic metaphor, Mike Wallace argued, at the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author contended that such catchphrases or other metaphors, such as being on a carousel waiting to grab the brass ring, are profoundly misleading. He instead referred to history as a river.
"Time is a river that moves along," he said to an audience last Wednesday. "Our goal is to chart its flow, where it's been and where it's going. We have to figure out its currents. It often cycles, but is not imbedded in the structure of time. We try to chart the dates with the highs and lows."
Wallace is working on a follow-up to his last award-winning book entitled "Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898," called "Gotham: A History of New York City," spanning the history of NYC from 1989 through the World War II.
In addition, he penned "A New Deal for New York," a book which examined the future of post-September 11 Gotham in the light of its past.
Wallace spoke primarily about Manhattan and Brooklyn, and claimed to know "less than two percent" about Newark, but said that lessons from New York's history are relevant in the Brick City.
"It seems most of the attention about Newark is riveted in the riot era," he said, fielding questions from the audience. "But it wasn't an isolated event. There were certainly events leading up to it, like the case of the '66 riots and acts of arson in the South Bronx and Bushwick."
A man about town, Wallace has served as a senior historical consultant and talking head for Ric Burns' PBS special New York: A Documentary Film while teaching history to police officers and students at John Jay College in NY since 1971.
He has counseled many local museums, notably the New York Historical Society and Museum of the City of New York. He will serve as the chief historian on a major New York Historical Society exhibition, "Nueva York," that will give a look at the 400-year history of Gotham's relations with the Spanish-speaking world.
Jeremy Gordon, an R-N economics undergrad, said that having Wallace on campus was thrilling; to meet the man he has only known through books.
"I read his books years ago," he said, while waiting to speak with him afterwards.
"It's exciting to see and hear him, to meet a Pultizer Prize winner; and to have someone of his caliber here. It's really cool."
It's a problematic metaphor, Mike Wallace argued, at the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author contended that such catchphrases or other metaphors, such as being on a carousel waiting to grab the brass ring, are profoundly misleading. He instead referred to history as a river.
"Time is a river that moves along," he said to an audience last Wednesday. "Our goal is to chart its flow, where it's been and where it's going. We have to figure out its currents. It often cycles, but is not imbedded in the structure of time. We try to chart the dates with the highs and lows."
Wallace is working on a follow-up to his last award-winning book entitled "Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898," called "Gotham: A History of New York City," spanning the history of NYC from 1989 through the World War II.
In addition, he penned "A New Deal for New York," a book which examined the future of post-September 11 Gotham in the light of its past.
Wallace spoke primarily about Manhattan and Brooklyn, and claimed to know "less than two percent" about Newark, but said that lessons from New York's history are relevant in the Brick City.
"It seems most of the attention about Newark is riveted in the riot era," he said, fielding questions from the audience. "But it wasn't an isolated event. There were certainly events leading up to it, like the case of the '66 riots and acts of arson in the South Bronx and Bushwick."
A man about town, Wallace has served as a senior historical consultant and talking head for Ric Burns' PBS special New York: A Documentary Film while teaching history to police officers and students at John Jay College in NY since 1971.
He has counseled many local museums, notably the New York Historical Society and Museum of the City of New York. He will serve as the chief historian on a major New York Historical Society exhibition, "Nueva York," that will give a look at the 400-year history of Gotham's relations with the Spanish-speaking world.
Jeremy Gordon, an R-N economics undergrad, said that having Wallace on campus was thrilling; to meet the man he has only known through books.
"I read his books years ago," he said, while waiting to speak with him afterwards.
"It's exciting to see and hear him, to meet a Pultizer Prize winner; and to have someone of his caliber here. It's really cool."
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