"Fred Reed takes a jaundiced and highly irreverent view of all things sacred-- journalism, marriage, affirmative action, federal scams, governmental uselessness

After growing up in Maine and attending Bowdoin, the author earned a PhD in Classics at Princeton. He taught at Duke, before returning to Phillips Exeter Academ

If ever you have been frustrated by some bureaucratic regulation -- if you've ever muttered, "That's just plain stupid," about some silly rule -- this book's fo