JONATHAN RAUCH
Jonathan Rauch's new book, Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America, is out and I highly recommend it. Even if you aren't especially interested in the issue, it's always a delight to see Jonathan's fair and careful mind at work. (If you really, really aren't interested in marriage and want to sample his work, try Kindly Inquisitors.)
While most reviews of the book will peg him as a gay writer, Jonathan actually comes to the issue as someone who has been thinking and writing seriously about heterosexual marriage for years and who cares deeply about the health of that institution. His book tour schedule is here. A mutual friend and I would like to get him to Dallas. Anyone with leads on a speaking venue, please email me.
For those concerned about the quality of contemporary public intellectuals, this book provides a nice test case: Can a graceful, careful, and honest writer on a serious yet hot-button issue grab attention if he doesn't have bluster and self-promotional personality of a media-age celebrity?