ETTY HILLESUM DIED IN AUSCHWITZ ON 30 NOVEMBER 1943

Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life: The Diaries, 1941-1943 and Letters from Westerbork, Translated from the Dutch by Arnold J. Pomerans, Foreword by Eva Hoffman, and Introduction and notes by Jan G. Gaarlandt (New York: Henry Holt, 1996) ("We know little about Etty's life before the war. Esther--her official first name--was born on 15 January 1914 in Middelburg...." Id. at xv. From a diary entry, from Amsterdam, dated 18 December 1942: "I know that those who hate have a good reason to do so. But why should we always have to choose the cheapest and easiest way? It has been brought home forcibly to me here how every atom of hatred added to the world makes it an even more inhospitable place. And I also believe, childishly perhaps but stubbornly, that the earth will become more habitable again only through the love that the Jew Paul described to the citizens of Corinth in the thirteen chapter of his first letter." Id. at 256. From a letter dated 10 July 1943: "This is something people refuse to admit to themselves: at a given point you can no longer do, but can only be and accept. And although that is something I learned a long time ago, I also know that one can only accept for oneself and not for others, And that's what is so desperately difficult for me here. Mother and Mischa still want to 'do,' to turn the whole world upside down, but I know we can't do anything about it. I have never been able to 'do' anything; I can only let things take their course and if need be, suffer. This is where my strength lies, and it is a great strength indeed. But for myself, not for others." Id. at 314. "Etty Hillesum died in Auschwitz on 30 November 1943." Id. at 365.).

SUGGESTED FICTION, or what to read to balance the brain when teaching Corporate Finance, Secured Transactions and Mergers & Acquisitions

Andre Aciman, Harvard Square: A Novel (New York & London: Norton, 2013) (See Clancy Martin, "Taxi Driver," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 5/5/2013).

Benjamin Black (aka John Banville), Holy Orders (A Quirke Novel) (New York: Henry Holt, 2013).

J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus (New York: Viking, 2013) (See Joyce Carol Oates, "Saving Grace," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 9/1/2013).

Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at The End of The Lane: A Novel (New York: William Morrow, 2013) (See Benjamin Percy, "It All Floods Back," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 6/30/2013.).

David Gilbert, & Sons: A Novel (New York: Random House, 2013) (See Blake Bailey, "The Descendants," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 7/28/2013.)

Andrew Sean Greer, The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells (New York: Ecco, 2013) (See David Leavitt, "Second and Third Chances," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 7/14/2013.).

Pico Iyer, Abandon: A Romance (New York: Knopf, 2003) (From the bookjacket: "Abandon is a mystical romance in the classic Persian tradition brought into the bleached sunlight of Southern California today. But it is also an unexpected and distinctive look at the clash between Islam and the West, at a time when Los Angeles is partly run by Iranian exiles and the long-closed cities of Iran are slowly opening up to Westerners.").

Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians: A Novel (New York: Doubleday, 2013).

Alexander Maksik, A Marker to Measure Drift: A Novel (New York: Knopf, 2013) (See Norman Rush, "Escaping the Past," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 8/25/2013).

Philipp Meyer, American Rust: A Novel (New York: Spiegal & Grau, 2010).

Philipp Meyer, The Son: A Novel (New York: Ecco, 2013) ("A man, a life--it was barely worth mentioning. The Visigoths had destroyed the Romans, and had themselves been destroyed by the Muslims. Who were destroyed by the Spanish and Portuguese. You did not need Hitler to see that it was not a pleasant story. And yet here she was. Breathing, having these thoughts. The blood that ran through history would fill every river and ocean, but despite all that butchery, here you were." Id. at 415. Also see Will Blythe, "Lone Star" NYT Book Review, Sunday, 6/16/2013.).

Benjamin Percy, Red Moon: A Novel (New York & Boston: Grand Central Publishing, 2013) (See Justin Cronin, "Cry Wolf," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 6/16/2013.).

J. K. Rowling (aka Robert Galbraith), The Cuckoo's Calling (New York: Mulholland Books/Little, Brown, 2013).

Carlos Ruiz Zafron, The Watcher in the Shadows, translated from the Spanish by Lucia Graves (New York & Boston: Little, Brown, 1995, 2013).

Colm Toibin, The Testament of Mary (New York: Scribner, 2012).

DANCE THE DANCE THAT IS BEING DANCED

"I remember what my grandmother used to tell me: 'It don't make no difference how well you fox-trot if everybody else is dancin' the two-step.'' James Alan McPherson, 'The Story of the Scar,' reprinted in Elbow Room: Stories (New York: Fawcett Crest, 1993), at 116, 124. Often times, especially in my professional life, I sense I am not dancing the dance being danced by everyone else.

James Alan McPherson, Crabcakes: A Memoir (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998).

James Alan McPherson, A Region Not Home: Reflections from Exile (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000) (I know how it feels to be an exile in one's country, in one's own home.).

THE RACE IS LONG

Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel (New York: Harper, 2008) ("'No race has ever been won in the first corner,' he said. 'But plenty of races have been lost there.' I looked at him. He reached out, settled his hand on the crown of my head, and scratched my ear like he has always done. 'That's right.' he said to me. 'If we're going to be a cliche, let's be a positive cliche.' Yes: the race is long--to finish first, first you must finish." Id. at 206.).

IN THE EVENT OF A CATASTROPHE

"PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE EVENT OF A CATASTROPHE

    It usually begins innocently enough with an acceleration, unnoticeable at first, of the turning of the earth. Leave home at once and do not bring along any of your family. Take a few indispensable things. Place yourself as far as possible from the centre, near the forests the seas or the mountains, before the whirling motion as it gets stronger from minute to minute begins to pour in towards the middle, suffocating in ghettoes, closets, basements. Hang on forcefully to the outer circumference. Keep your head down. Have your two hands constantly free,.Take good care of the muscles of your legs."

Reprinted in Zbigniew Herbert, The Collected Poems: 1956-1998, translated from the Polish and edited by Alissa Valles, with additional translations by Czeslaw Milosz and Peter Dale Scott, & an introduction by Adam Zagajewski (New York: Ecco, 2007), at 262.

THE PROBLEM OF FULL EMPLOYMENT

Robert Pollin, Back to Full Employment (Book Review Books) (Cambridge, Massachusetts, & London, England, 2012) ("[W]e have to pose the question of full employment more precisely. It is not simply a matter of everyone spending their days trying to scratch out a living somehow. A workable definition of full employment should refer to an abundance of decent jobs." Id. at 12. "The real problem with U.S. employment conditions has never been globalization broadly defined, nor is it immigration or the trade deficit. [] The real problem is ... the absence of a full employment agenda tat takes account of the challenges presented by globalization, along with other major challenges." Id. at 62-63.).

BEYOND MERE COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF THE VALUE OF NATURE

David Keith, A Case For Climate Change Engineering (Boston Review Books) (Cambridge, Massachusetts, & London. England, 2013) ("The language of environmental advocacy has become increasingly technocratic. Calls for action rely almost exclusively on (seemingly) objective quantitative measures of cost and benefit that amount to a crude appeal to self-interest. We are urged to protect natural landscapes not because walking through them brings pleasure, but because of the ecosystem services they yield, services like oxygen and clean water. These arguments have merit, but I think they obscure much of what actually drives people's choices. If we are protecting a rainforest because it stores carbon or yields wonder drugs, then we should be happy to cut down the forest if some carbon storage machine or molecular biotech lab can better provide these services. If we are protecting a wetland for its ability to hold and purify water then we should be happy to replace it with a housing project development if that development includes technologies for water storage and filtration that does these jobs better than the wetland. For me the utilitarian benefits of nature are a grossly insufficient measure of its value. Id. at xv-xvi,).