Dedicated to those who make it all worthwhile:
Beatrice,
Barby and Marty,
Rob and Nazrat,
Ben and Lauren,
Elizabeth and Alex.
May every one of you have a long and fulfilling life.
When I started to work on what follows I had the idea of writing an autobiography. That just didn't go. I don't have a good enough memory, have no notes on my past, no collection of letters, and anyhow most of the days of my life are not worth recounting.
So what you have before you is a series of snapshots taken from the past life of Beatrice and myself. I have tried to place them in the order in which they occurred.
I have to thank Beatrice for many suggestions, and for bringing her much better memory of the past--especially the distant past--to the service of these snapshots. She was with me on most of the travels here described, and remembers details of places and people that I have forgotten or only dimly recall. I also thank Peter Wolff who brought an extensive editorial experience to the reading and occasional alteration of every word of the text.
The cities of a world of nations
With all their manners, minds, and fashions
He saw and knew.
Homer, Ulysses, bk.1