Fifty years ago this month, my parents told my brother and me that we were to emigrate to the United States in November. Within weeks, our cat Monty, who had been on this earth two years longer than me, died. He didn’t die in order to become a symbol

The story of the blind men and the elephant regularly comes up in news analysis, such as when the author or presenter is claiming that someone’s perspective is too narrow. Few people know the end of the story as it seems it was originally told. I

Is it possible to like your banker? If any writer can make finance interesting, it’s Ron Chernow, author of the celebrated Alexander Hamilton (2004). One way he worked his magic in an earlier book on the history of finance was to assign it a title

The blue sky arched high, and the yellow of forsythias dotted the hedged fields. Mark had trekked for hours. When he paused near a hut at the side of the lane, an old man came out and said, “Going far?” Mark leaned on the shepherd's crook he’d

Catchphrases separate the generations. That they do so seems arbitrary and unfortunate. Everything that causes friction between generations is unfortunate. As a boy in London, I’d ask my father, “What’s up?” and he’d reply acidly, “The sky.” If he

A breeze insinuates itself through open windows into a warm room. On the stereo, Anne Sofie von Otter sings the song cycle, Frauenliebe und Leben (A Woman’s Life and Love). I am content. An evening listening to German lieder occurs rarely. I can’t