4,673 words
To understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty.
— Napoleon Bonaparte
I grew up in the final years of the Cold War. If you aren’t old enough to remember the Cold War, let me tell you that it was a trip.
, an autobiographical novel by James Nulick, whose protagonist catches AIDS during a gay-sex-and-crack binge.
and the forthcoming title by Sarah Perry, 
is one of my favorite movies. I didn’t want to like it. I didn’t even want to see it. Everything I’d heard made me think it would be thoroughly nihilistic and quite unpleasant. But then someone at a party described 
50 Shades of Happiness
Canaletto, The Return of the Bucentaur to the Molo on Ascension Day, 1730.
1,648 words
On the train ride home this weekend, I ended up talking with a drunk woman about the concept of happiness. Although brief, the conversation reminded me of Giacomo Casanova’s memoir The Story of My Life. As I have gotten older, this memoir has reminded me not to let certain vices ruin my life. While each person Read more …