This essay is adapted from the author's commencement address at McGill University in Montreal earlier this month.
Exactly 23 years ago, in this very building, I was sitting in your seat. Today I report to you on my two-decade reconnaissance expedition into the world beyond McGill College Avenue. Like Marco Polo, I return -- without silk, but with three pieces of sage advice.
First, don't lose your head. I'm speaking here of intellectual fashion, of the alarming regularity with which the chattering classes are swept away by the periodic enthusiasms that wash over the culture.
Only a decade ago, for example,...
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