Well, it took less than 24 hours for you folks to sort out my confusion. It was Theda Skocpol. So what happened to me? Well, it is very complicated. The story starts in 1958, when I had just come out of my 6 months of active duty in the Mass National Guard and was on fellowship while living in Cambridge. I attended a seminar taught by a Big Deal Harvard Government Department Professor who was a horse's ass: William Yandall Elliott. Also attending the seminar was a ferociously bright and sharp-edged young woman who was, as I recall, an Asst Prof in the Government Department. One day she ripped Elliott apart.
Step One: I confused her in my mind with Theda Skocpol.
Step Two: I had met and become very close to Barrington Moore, Jr. [he was the godfather of my younger son, Tobias Barrington Wolff.]
Step Three: Somewhere, I became acquainted with the work of Seyla Benhabib.
Step four; Since I had Skocpol placed in the late 50s in my mind, I knew she could not be the person Todd had told me about, so I mis-remembered Benhabib as Skocpol [who was, in fact, Barry's student], and thought Benhabib was Barry's student [not possible, since she got her doctorate at Yale.]
A total clusterf--k attributable, alas, to a series of Senior Moments.
Now, about the time I had tea with John Stuart Mill ...
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Which clears everything up, except: Who was the young (or relatively young) woman at that seminar you attended in the late '50s who "ripped apart" William Yandell Elliott?
My guess would be: (the late) Judith Shklar.
Bravo!! Just after I remembered and posted it, I read your comment. Well done!!!
thanks
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