Library Corner

Trust and Betrayal in Brussels

May 29, 2025

In the 1990s, American playwright and screenwriter Alice Austen was working as a lawyer in Brussels. Some elderly neighbors in her elegant Beaux Arts apartment building befriended her, inviting her regularly …

The Complicated Legacy of Anne Frank

April 17, 2025

For millions around the globe, the face of Anne Frank – bright, sensitive, and all-too-young – is instantly recognizable.  For many, she represents the six million Jews, including 1.5 million …

Art and Adventure in a Time of War

March 10, 2025

By Robin Jacobson.  Perched majestically on a rocky hilltop, the Abbey of Montecassino has kept vigil over Italy’s Liri Valley for nearly two thousand years. During the Second World War, …

Secrets and Lies

March 3, 2025

After Sasha Vasilyuk’s grandfather died in Donetsk, Ukraine, in 2007, her grandmother made a shocking discovery. In an old briefcase stashed under a bed, she found a confession letter her …

Portrait of an Artist and his Jewish Patrons: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers

January 21, 2025

By Robin Jacobson.  As a celebrated portrait artist, John Singer Sargent had his choice of commissions at the turn of the twentieth century. The most aristocratic, glamorous, “high society” figures …