One of the great pleasures of going to work as editor of the National Interest is that one gets to meet Irving—sitting just across the room as editor of the Public Interest—every day. As befits a New York intellectual, he is rarely to be caught without firm—or at least definite—opinions on both current issues and editorial matters, and listening to them is a stimulating way of starting the day. (On the editorial questions he is tough-minded, and he quotes with relish Cyril Connolly’s response to an author complaining about the non-appearance of his article: “Well, it was good enough to accept, and it was good enough to set in type, but it wasn’t good enough to publish.”) As is much rarer in the case of intellectuals, Irving is also an exceptionally good and responsive listener.