Documentary Subject

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Seymour Hersh, AB’58, is known for exposing government cover-ups of events including the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War and the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. His career and legacy are the subject of the Netflix documentary Cover-Up. Released December 26 and directed by Academy Award winner Laura Poitras and Emmy winner Mark Obenhaus, the film follows Hersh through a half century of reporting on US military and intelligence agencies. Using Hersh’s notes, primary sources, and archival footage, the documentary brings to life the drama of investigative journalism.

Distinguished intellectuals

Leon Kass, LAB’54, SB’58, MD’62, Addie Clark Harding Professor Emeritus in the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought and in the College; Anthony Grafton, AB’71, AM’72, PhD’75, Henry Putnam University Professor Emeritus of History at Princeton; and Charles Butterworth, AM’62, PhD’66, professor emeritus of government and politics at the University of Maryland, were among 10 recipients of the 2025 Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement from the American Academy of Sciences and Letters (AASL) at the November 12 award ceremony in Washington, DC. The AASL’s top recognition for scholarship, the Barry Prize “honors those whose work has made outstanding contributions to humanity’s knowledge, appreciation, and cultivation of the good, the true, and the beautiful.”

On air

In September Ryland Barton, AB’09, was named an anchor for National Public Radio, where he will be responsible for writing, producing, and delivering hourly national newscasts. Barton joined NPR in 2023 after years of working in public radio around the country. First serving as an editor for the States Team on NPR’s National Desk, he most recently worked as NPR’s overnight editor, working with reporters in the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia, China, and India. He also reported on funding cuts to NPR and PBS, the legal battle to stop the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, and the politics of state abortion restrictions.

Interrupted musical

Girl, Interrupted (Turtle Bay Books), Susanna Kaysen’s 1993 memoir about her time in a psychiatric hospital, has been adapted into a stage play by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Martyna Majok, AB’07. Scheduled to premiere in May at the Public Theater in New York City, the play will be directed by Tony Award nominee Jo Bonney and will feature original music by Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter Aimee Mann.

Revolutionary writer

Geoffrey C. Ward, LAB’57, is the scriptwriter for The American Revolution (2025), a documentary series on PBS by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt. He also coauthored the accompanying book, The American Revolution: An Intimate History (Knopf, 2025). Two hundred and fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the series and book offer a reappraisal of the Revolutionary War, highlighting the reality of violence and disease; the extensive debates and division among Americans; the often-overlooked roles played by women, African Americans, Native Americans, and recent immigrants; and the war’s impact on the world.

Material world

An experimental short film by Tina Wang, MFA’23, was shown as part of Materials and Processes for an Expanding World, a group exhibition held in Los Angeles in December. Curated to highlight “the ways artists create their own universes through movement, experiment, and intentional accidents,” the exhibition featured works by 37 artists and included video, works on paper, and ephemera. Wang’s film was one of nine from the original Los Angeles exhibition shown at a screening event in Chicago on January 31.