A few years ago, I spent an afternoon on the Upper East Side with a keen-eyed Frenchman during his maiden trip to New York. There were marvels aplenty, but at the end of the day he had developed a single fixation: What was up with the old people? They looked taut and shiny and strange. Read More
A few years ago, I spent an afternoon on the Upper East Side with a keen-eyed Frenchman during his maiden trip to New York. There were marvels aplenty, but at the end of the day he had developed a single fixation: What was up with the old people? They looked taut and shiny and strange. Read More
Many years ago, in the course of an otherwise high-minded conversation, a very wise, very distinguished publisher imparted what she billed as an unassailable truth: “Marriages,” she announced, “are made and kept in bed.” To which I would add an equally crucial corollary: Never underestimate the allure of an empty dishwasher. That turns out to Read More
Many years ago, in the course of an otherwise high-minded conversation, a very wise, very distinguished publisher imparted what she billed as an unassailable truth: “Marriages,” she announced, “are made and kept in bed.” To which I would add an equally crucial corollary: Never underestimate the allure of an empty dishwasher. That turns out Read More
John Adams: Party of One, by James Grant. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 544 pages, $30.
Any biography of John Adams that works anxiety, insecurity, worry and dread into its first paragraph is off on the right track. A host of superlatives attach themselves to our first ambassador to Great Britain and second President, Read More
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference , by Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown and Company, 279 pages, $24.95.
Malcolm Gladwell is a David Macaulay of ideas. He won’t tell you how a zipper or a gearshift works, but he is illuminating on the subject of ideological behavior. Which is to Read More
