"My two favorite cities have a storied and contentious history, richly documented in this terrific study. Sparks fly and, meanwhile, Christianity sweeps in and transforms the world in a few short hundred years. Fascinating."

"I have to say The Godfather. [Laughs] Incredible movie. The performances, how it’s told. That’s the longest opening scene in film history — an hour or so. The whole wedding, and then the movie starts."

"Ang Lee is a master at telling the entire history of a relationship in one simple, silent moment. This is an astonishingly beautiful and devastating film. From top to bottom, the performances are stellar."

"This ambitious, uncannily beautiful book moves me more deeply with every reading. A powerful meditation on history and conscience, it’s also an assertion of the centrality of political witness to the work of art."

"I enjoy reading epic stories from ancient history and in recent years have been reading abridged versions aloud to my kids. This epic poem was found on a series of ancient tablets from Mesopotamia written down over 4,000 years ago, and involves the central character Gilgamesh, an excessive and oppressive leader, and his arduous journey in pursuit of the secrets of immortality. His character evolves through his personal voyage towards accepting death, and you encounter so many tales that you recognize from history."