Irving Howe 1920-1993

Our friend and comrade Irving Howe is dead.

The world knew him as the leading intellectual of the American left, a voice (often, a voice in the wilderness) for democratic and socialist values.

We knew him differently. He was our voice (it’s our wilderness). And he did not only speak for us but also to us and with us. I know that voice; it’s in my bones. What I want to talk about here is its tone and timbre and its message. I don’t mean its ideological message, ...