As I mentioned in my last post, reading up on German history has been eye-opening. Let me share an example. We assume that right-wing authoritarians hate left-wing authoritarians more than anyone else on the political spectrum, and vice versa — fascists and communists don’t mix. Which means we’d assume that…

The Fabulous Wife sums up our trip best: “I like Amsterdam much more than Berlin, and I had a better time there, but I find myself thinking more about Berlin. I am still trying to understand it.” The only thing I’d add is that I’m trying to understand Germany, not…

Since high school I’ve been hearing the George Santayana quote that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Is it true? I’d prefer to think not, which is why I wondered in my last post whether we might be better off if historical quarrels were forgotten. …

Speaking of reminders that history didn’t begin when we were born: Germany. Twentieth-century Berlin is the obvious story, but I want to focus instead on the little town of Wittenberg, a 35-minute train ride from central Berlin through flat, wooded terrain. Haven’t heard of it? Wittenberg didn’t fully register on…

Okay, enough about art. It’s time to talk about something completely different: architecture! If you’ve never been to the Netherlands and imagine all its city and town centers look like canal photos of Amsterdam . . . well, you’re not far off. During our visit to Amsterdam we took side…

While in the Netherlands, The Fabulous Wife and I visited a couple of museums devoted to famous artists: The Frans Hals in Haarlem, and the Van Gogh in Amsterdam. The main part of the Hals Museum is on a Haarlem side street ten minutes from the town square. A small…

The Europeans aren’t history’s only imperialists. Nor are they history’s only oppressors or enslavers. But their colonization of the globe from 1492 to the middle of the 20th century caused pain and injustice on an unprecedented scale. …

Back to non-fiction [sigh] . . . Days after I posted the final chapter of Maestro Keys, The Fabulous Wife and I went on our first extended trip since before the pandemic. I’d been wanting to return to Europe for a while, but The Fabulous Wife was more Covid-averse —…

Previous Chapter Start at the Beginning EPILOGUE The next morning Arnold rode BART to work. Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben rang in his head as he jostled for standing room with his fellow commuters. Once he settled behind his gray metal desk and flipped on the computer he searched for reviews…