PETER WOOD: A Wretched Defense of the Humanities. “The Commission pretends to speak with the authority of Erasmus or Diderot about the importance of a human-centered curriculum, but all it really musters is the voice of a middling utilitarian.”

Plus: “I am inclined to think the humanities thrive when the humanists are self-evidently offering good and important work. The humanities decline when they descend into triviality. The answer to a nation skeptical of these disciplines is not more balloons, nor better metaphors, or even better-crafted reports. It is better work.” Indeed.