18th Century Henry Fielding on 21st Century Dictatorship
In Fielding’s 1749 masterpiece, The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling, on Tom’s journey to London he and his servant, Partridge, encounter a Gypsy community. Partridge is lured into trouble…
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Postscript to “Hitchcock and Film Noir”
Despite Alfred Hitchcock’s many affinities with Film Noir—he made The Lodger, one of the earliest Film Noirs, and Vertigo, the very best of Film Noir, as well as a dozen…
Hitchcock and Film Noir
Film Noir was a movement and genre of crime films made by Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s. It consisted most often of a murder, sometimes accompanied by a robbery;…
Letter to a Grandson
For Arthur Rules of the Game 1. Be benevolent. Benevolent means willing the good of others. 2. Be honest. Even when it hurts. 3. Be as good as your word.…
Requena: An Amazonian Adventure, June 2007
Requena is a little town of about 30,000 located 100 miles south of Iquitos on the Ucayali River. A placard over the tourist office claims it is “The Athens of…
Family Background
In 1870, my father’s mother was born in Bergdorf, Switzerland. As a teenager, she migrated to Philadelphia where she met my grandfather, a plumber. He was the child of Irish…
Art and Religion
All the great religions have produced great art. But just as Pascal argued that of all the religions, Christianity was most closely aligned with human nature, so I would argue…
On Going Blind
Isn’t it ironic that a person whose life was devoted to reading books and watching movies should near the end of his journey going blind? Over twenty-five years ago my…
Letter to Cornel West
Thomas Woodrow Wilson graduated from the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, in 1879. In 1886, he was awarded a Ph.D. in history and government from Johns Hopkins University, then in…
Dr. Robert Lustig’s Metabolical*
Not since Rachel Carson’s The Silent Spring (1962) has a book so alarmed and awakened me. Dr. Robert Lustig is Professor Emeritus of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of California,…
Silver Linings Playbook – Rip van Winkle
Often when I go to the movies these days, I feel like Rip van Winkle as though I have awakened from a long sleep and find myself in an unfamiliar…