Foreword.

Long committed to supporting intellectual life in the nation, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at the beginning of the new century decided to focus new effort on fostering the intellectual development of the next generation of scholars. Accordingly, in 2002 the Visiting Scholars Program began, resulting from the efforts of Chief Executive Officer Leslie Berlowitz. At the beginning, the chancellors or presidents of nine universities and colleges supported the enterprise; that number has now grown to fifty-two. Administrators of these institutions realize, as do concerned scholars at the Academy, the paucity of available resources to sustain the research of those holding new PhDs, who suffer either from academic unemployment or from demanding non-tenured assistant professorships. Several foundations have also provided generous assistance. The accomplishments of the first seven classes of Scholars since their fellowships suggest how valuable their year at the Academy was to them. They have published numerous books, and all of them have achieved appropriate academic or research appointments.

The present issue of Daedalus introduces the work of early-career scholars to a wider audience. Their essays suggest the broad range of interests among their generation. They write of the present and of the past, of problems in public health education and of Civil War atrocities. They take up theoretical issues (for example, "Anti-Intellectualism as Romantic Discourse") and practical ones ("Rebalancing American Foreign Policy"); vast concerns ...