Weschler, longtime writer for the New Yorker, offers a collection of 20 articles and essays written over the past 20 years. All display his amazing skillfulness in selecting details and making connections. In the beginning section on the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal, he relates how an Italian judge, listening daily to atrocities and unbelievable acts of cruelty, keeps himself sane by visiting the art museum to spend time with the Vermeers. Weschler observes that while Vermeer painted his peaceful works, "all of Europe was Bosnia," filled with violence and atrocities. That sets the tone for the book, an examination of modern people and events viewed from a variety of perspectives--historical, cultural, religious, philosophical, political, literary, artistic. Weschler includes profiles of three Polish survivors of War World II, including director Roman Polanski, and essays on family connections, including a piece on his own grandfather. Profiles of artists and Los Angeles round out this incredible display of Weschler's versatility and the depth, detail, and digressions that add enormously to the picture he paints of his chosen subject.