"Two films that taught me about the complicated and highly delicate balance of tone that some movies must strike in order to succeed. Both films walk a razor’s edge between laugh-out-loud comedy and devastating social critique—and both are peerless in their total command of tone."

"I love Renoir’s films for the great storytelling in which he always incorporates social commentary. My favorite scene is between Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and Captain von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim) as they discuss the gentleman’s code of gentlemen’s honor, and how their time as the elite class is passing."

"From shell shock in World War I to childhood sexual abuse today, the reality of trauma has been denied. But as this indispensable book makes clear, ‘Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims.'"

"Why did Chinese foot binding end? Or the western pistol duel, for that matter? The Honor Code takes a stab at this history, revealing the importance of honor as an agent for major social and political change — a salient point to make in this morally fraught time of rapid transformation."

"A book I never tire of reading. Undine Spragg is such a modern, greedy girl, and yet we love her as she works her way through her marriages, acquiring and desiring ever more. I enjoy reading about her dresses, her addresses and all the social mores of the day. Delicious."

"From shell shock in World War I to childhood sexual abuse today, the reality of trauma has been denied. But as this indispensable book makes clear, “Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims.”"

"A cultural analysis and breakdown of Manhattan specifically, and the physical attributes as well as social needs that defined New York’s iconic and exportable look. The culture of congestion, by now largely surpassed by Asian and South American cities, defines Manhattanism as the goal for the contemporary city… in 1978."

"A great and tragic love story set against the social upheavals in Russia in the 1870s. Like “The Great Gatsby,” this is a book I’ve read three times in my life. I read it maybe five years ago and realized for the first time that Anna Karenina was an opium addict."