The Administration: The Stranger on the Squad

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His speech—elaborately phrased, rich with allusions—sounds like another language amid the staccato din of the New Frontier's verbal shorthand. With his ironic, self-deprecating wit, he often appears to be some misplaced elfin uncle among the intense young men who laugh at their well-worn house jokes only rarely—and hardly ever at themselves.

A lonely man, he seems even lonelier in the forced togetherness of New Frontier society. In a group that sees conversation as a necessary delay between acts, he relishes talk for its own sake. In a group that venerates the...