-- Annie Dillard

Finding skeptics in the battle against evil has been a rare achievement.  For example, as Lapham points out: "Ted Koppel struck the preferred note of caution on November 2 when introducing the Nightline audience to critics of the American bombing of Afghanistan: 'Some of you, many of you, are not going to like what you hear tonight.  You don't have to listen.'"  Unpopular opinions seldom make an appearance on the network news, and during the months since the destruction of the World Trade Center, the voices of dissent have been few and far between.  Lewis Lapham is an exception.  Almost alone among mainstream political commentators, he has had the courage to question the motive and feasibility, as well as the imperial pretension, of the Bush administration's infinite crusade against the world's evildoers.

Lewis Lapham is the editor of Harper's Magazine and has received a National Magazine Award for his essay writing.  He is the author of several books, including Money and Class in America, Imperial Masquerade, Hotel America, The Wish for Kings, and Waiting for the Barbarians.  He lives in New York City.