Flashes of intense envy are inevitable when you’re reading about the personal palaces and larger-than-life inhabitants of 740 Park Avenue. The walls of your cramped walk-up close in on you inch by inch with every page you turn—but a little envy-induced claustrophobia isn’t too high a price to pay for a leisurely look around Manhattan’s Read More
At the risk of blowing a good thing—you know, like when The New York Times runs a feature on a restaurant or neighborhood, thereby increasing its visibility and making it difficult for the rest of us to enjoy a good meal or even live in New York City—I have to recommend a trip to the Read More
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr. , by Ron Chernow. Random House, 774 pages, $30.
How could this pious man, who invented modern institutional philanthropy and lived according to the strictest rules of church attendance, abstinence, hard work and charitable giving, at the same time have conducted his business affairs with utter ruthlessness? Read More
