Chernow does an exemplary job of capturing the personalities of his subjects: he brings to vivid life such individuals as Junius Spencer Morgan, George Peabody, and of course, John Pierpont Morgan himself. The account is full of little details that highlight that these people were human: Peabody’s vindictiveness and miserliness towards specific individuals while pursuing grand acts of philanthropy, the way that Junius Spencer Morgan had all his son Pierpont’s letters on political and economic conditions in America bound and set on his shelf, Pierpont’s attention to appropriate attire (a bowler in winter, a Panama hat in summer), and Jack’s retainers snipping Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s photos from Jack’s morning paper, in deference to his high blood pressure and hatred of Roosevelt.…

I recall when Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon(《卧虎藏龙》) came out in 2001, way back in the misty years of my youth. It was the first martial arts movie I had watched since the mid-1990s. I was stunned. It…

I rarely watch movies. When I was in the private equity industry, I rarely had time to do so. Now, as an MBAstudent at Wharton, I still rarely have the time to do so. Long-distance international flights are where I watch movies. Recently, on a trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, I watched five movies:…

There are few TV programs that I watch these days, and even fewer that impress me with the quality of their acting, writing, directing, and scoring. Doctor Whois one of them. The penultimate episode of Series 9, “Heaven Sent”, may well be one of the best episodes of Doctor Who, and one of the best episodes of television ever.…

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me well that I am a huge fan of James Bond. Indeed, it would be surprising if I were not, given my mix of English, Italian, and American influences growing up, and my tastes as an adult. It is also no secret that I consider Daniel Craig to be the best James Bond since, well, Sean Connery.…

In The Lions of Al-Rassan, Kay crafts a fictional world inspired by al-Andalus and the Spanish Reconquista, one poised on the brink of its own reconquest. When we begin the novel, the Asharite (Kay’s Muslim analogues) Khalifate of Al-Rassan, which had conquered the lands once known as Esperaña from the Jaddites (Kay’s Christian analogues) three hundred years ago, has fallen and splintered into a patchwork of city-states ruled by petty kings.…