In 1983, Perlman joined the cello section of the Dearborn Orchestra and in June 1985 performed quartets by Mozart and Schumann at a program for Physicians for Social Responsibility.
During 1985, Perlman wrote two essays on Nathaniel Hawthorne, who Perlman regarded - along with Hawthorne's contemporaries Thoreau and Melville - as a critic of technology and imperialism [REF].