Peter Beinart is a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, and a Senior Political Writer for The Daily Beast. He is author of The Good Fight: Why Liberals – And Only Liberals – Can Win the War on Terror and most recently of The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris. Before he took the stage to talk about the limits of American power, he sat down for our In The Green Room Q&A.
Q. What is the last habit you tried to kick?
A. Eating chips really late at night while I’m trying to write.
Q. Who was your childhood hero?
A. Larry Bird and Joe Slovo.
Q. What do you consider to be the greatest simple pleasure?
A. Playing with my kids.
Q. Where would we find you at 10 a.m. on a typical Saturday?
A. Trying to get our family out the door to synagogue.
Q. What is the last book you read?
A. The second volume of a biography of Abraham Joshua Heschel, an influential mid-century American rabbi.
Q. What do you wish you had the nerve to do?
A. Home maintenance.
Q. What is your favorite cocktail?
A. Amaretto sour.
Q. What profession would you like to practice in your next life?
A. Like to and capable of are different things, but I’ll revert to my childhood dream of playing basketball.
Q. What is your most prized material possession?
A. My house.
Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most like to meet for dinner?
A. Woodrow Wilson.
To read more about Beinart’s talk, click here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.
by Stephan Salisbury
The introduction to Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Stephan Salisbury’s investigative memoir Mohamed’s Ghosts is titled “How to Take Down A Mosque.” It’s an eye-grabber for anyone who is watching closely the controversy around the Park51 Islamic community center and mosque slated to be built in Lower Manhattan.