In Response to: The Pre-Read Turns Six

Many books are far too long. But many are only too long for our current crop of college students who, like Trump, think a picture equals a thousand words. Our college students are far less prepared for an education than they were 40 years ago or so. Many well-used textbooks, for instance (like Robert R. Palmer's famed History of the Modern World), have in the last two decades been found too difficult (!!) for college freshmen. Once they were fine for high school juniors and seniors. So if a student tells you as a professor your book is too long, I hope you will give him a piece of your mind! Not too long a piece!

Norman Ravitch *62
Savannah, Ga.