My students and colleagues won’t be surprised to learn that I have a particular fondness for “The Advocate,” a not-entirely-tongue-in-cheek defense of “the business of whaling.” After all, it mentions both my alma mater and my present area of research and teaching. For further details, take a look at this post over at patell.org.

“The Advocate” is read for us by James Woudhuysen. The evocative but untitled illustration is Anne Hamilton. Visit the “Big Reads” site to see a high resolution version.

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