NYTBR editor Sam Tanenhaus was the guest of honor during an afternoon tea at Yale yesterday, revealing some of the mindset behind his stewardship of the Times' Sunday book coverage. Apparently he did concede to the students that "his style for handling the Book Review is somewhat unorthodox compared to previous editors," but offered this explanation:

"The idea of the Review previously was to publish a balanced middle view. But if you hear the more strident voice in all of their tonalities, you will get to the same place. At the end of the year the needle will still be in the middle."