Lance Morrow

Henry Grunwald Senior Fellow

Lance Morrow is the Henry Grunwald Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His work focuses on the moral and ethical dimensions of public events, including developments in regard to freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and political correctness on American campuses, with a view to the future consequences of such suppressions.

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Lance Morrow is the Henry Grunwald Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His work focuses on the moral and ethical dimensions of public events, including developments in regard to freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and political correctness on American campuses, with a view to the future consequences of such suppressions.

Morrow’s award-winning essays, appearing in TimeSmithsonianThe New York TimesThe Atlantic, and other publications, have offered probing analyses of American culture and politics in the transition from the 20th to the 21st century.

Morrow wrote about every presidential election from Nixon to Obama, wars from Vietnam to Bosnia to the Middle East. Morrow was the author of more than 150 cover stories for Time, including eight Man of the Year articles.

He is currently writing a book about Henry Luce and his magazines’ role in shaping American culture and opinions in the middle third of the 20th century. Morrow is a strong believer in the role of journalism in sustaining freedom and democracy.

The son of an editor of the old Saturday Evening Post and of a Washington columnist for the Knight syndicate, Morrow grew up in Washington. He attended Gonzaga High School, and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University. For nine years (1996-2005), he was a University Professor at Boston University, where he taught presidential history and the art of the essay.

The author of seven books, Morrow is a two-time winner of the National Magazine Award—the first for his original coverage in essay form of American cultural affairs, the second for his essay that was part of Time‘s special coverage of September 11th.

Morrow’s study of the question of evil, arising among other things from his travel in the Bosnian war zone with Elie Wiesel, was a finalist for the National Magazine Award.  Later, he turned the article into a critically acclaimed book—Evil: An Investigation.

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‘An Honest Conversation About Race’?

Lance Morrow

Is confrontation wise? Much progress has been accomplished under cover of hypocrisy—or civility.

Articles

The Wall Street Journal / July 3, 2020

Fire, Again

Lance Morrow

The current outbreak of protests and riots feels like a sudden, comprehensive event of physics or meteorology, a perfect storm of perfect storms, multilayered and interpenetrating and simultaneous.

Articles

City Journal / June 1, 2020

The Other Great War

Lance Morrow

Rudyard Kipling’s World War I-era book contains surreal and haunting similarities to today’s pandemic.

Articles

City Journal / May 23, 2020

Give Yourself a Haircut

Lance Morrow

It’s easier than you think. Now is the time to try, so turn up the lights and grab a sharp pair of scissors.

Articles

The Wall Street Journal / May 19, 2020

Coronavirus and ‘Vindication of God’

Lance Morrow

The pandemic raises the old question of theodicy, the core dilemma of faith.

Articles

The Wall Street Journal / April 30, 2020

The War Goes On

Lance Morrow

Americans are engaged in a great double struggle—against a pandemic, but also against one another.

Articles

City Journal / April 17, 2020

Biden-Cuomo Is the Way to Beat Trump

Lance Morrow

The former vice president promised a female running mate, but the world has changed since then.

Articles

The Wall Street Journal / April 12, 2020

Calamity Has Much to Teach

Lance Morrow

We live in history—and calamity has a lot to teach us. Some say that we learn only by suffering and disaster.

Articles

City Journal / March 27, 2020

What to Do When You’re Sheltering in Place

Lance Morrow

Set a routine and stick to it. Keep your body, clothes and home clean. Occupy your mind and have faith.

Articles

The Wall Street Journal / March 23, 2020

Biden in an Age of Amazements

Lance Morrow

The Truman-like resurrection of the presidential candidate would be startling, in normal times—but these aren’t normal times.

Articles

City Journal / March 4, 2020

The Charleston “Debate”

Lance Morrow

The Democrats’ Charleston forum was a Menckenesque carnival of self-regard.

Articles

City Journal / February 26, 2020

OK Boomer? Bernie, Biden and Bloomberg Are Older Still

Lance Morrow

By Inauguration Day 2021, the three leading Democratic candidates would have reached the average U.S. male’s life expectancy.

Articles

The Wall Street Journal / February 26, 2020