Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point

Mr. Lipsky, a Rolling Stone writer and award-winning novelist, talked about his book, Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point, published by Houghton Mifflin. He described the life at the U.S. Military Academy during the most tumultuous period in its history. In 1998 the West Point administrators offered to let David Lipsky stay at the Academy as long as he liked, go wherever he wished, talk to whomever he wanted, to discover why some of America’s most promising young people sacrifice so much to become cadets. Lipsky followed one cadet class from arrival through graduation, including into their mess halls, barracks, classrooms, bars, and training exercises. During probably the most eventful four years in West Point’s history, Lipsky witnessed the arrival of televisions and telephones in dorm rooms, the end of hazing, and innumerable other shifts in policy and practice known collectively as The Changes. Mr. Lipsky said his experience covering college students for [Rolling Stone close