Carlin Romano, critic-at-large of The Chronicle of Higher Education, spent 25 years as Literary Critic of the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he also served at various times as cultural reporter, general assignment city staffer, and correspondent based in St. Petersburg, Russia. A former president of the National Book Critics Circle, he was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in criticism. His work has appeared in many publications, including The Nation, The New Yorker, Harper's, Slate, and Salon. Over the course of his career in journalism, Romano also taught philosophy at Yale, Yeshiva University, the University of Pennsylvania, Bennington, and Ursinus College, where he is currently Professor of Philosophy and Humanities. America the Philosophical celebrates the United States' energy for truth and debate.