The definitive inside story of WeWork, its audacious founder, and what its epic unraveling says about a financial system drunk on the elixir of Silicon Valley innovation—from the Wall Street Journal correspondents (recently featured in the WeWork Hulu documentary) whose scoop-filled reporting hastened the company’s downfall.
WeWork would be worth $10 trillion, more than any other company in the world. It wasn’t just an office space provider. It was a tech company—an AI startup, even. Its WeGrow schools and WeLive residences would revolutionize education and housing. One day, mused founder Adam Neumann, a Middle East peace accord would be signed in a WeWork. The company might help colonize Mars. And Neumann would become the world’s first trillionaire.
This was the vision of Neumann and his primary cheerleader, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. In hindsight, their ambition for the company, whose primary business was subletting desks in slickly designed offices, seems like madness. Why did so many intelligent people—from venture capitalists to Wall Street elite—fall for the hype? And how did WeWork go so wrong?
In little more than a decade, Neumann transformed himself from a struggling baby clothes salesman into the charismatic, hard-partying CEO of a company worth $47 billion—on paper. With his long hair and feel-good mantras, the six-foot-five Israeli transplant looked the part of a messianic truth teller. Investors swooned, and billions poured in.
Neumann dined with the CEOs of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, entertaining a parade of power brokers desperate to get a slice of what he was selling: the country’s most valuable startup, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a generation-defining moment.
Soon, however, WeWork was burning through cash faster than Neumann could bring it in. From his private jet, sometimes clouded with marijuana smoke, he scoured the globe for more capital. Then, as WeWork readied a Hail Mary IPO, it all fell apart. Nearly $40 billion of value vaporized in one of corporate America’s most spectacular meltdowns.
Peppered with eye-popping, never-before-reported details, The Cult of We is the gripping story of careless and often absurd people—and the financial system they have made.

没药花园主笔团搜集媒体报道、庭审记录和警方公开资料，抽丝剥茧，独家解读9宗极富争议的真实悬案。
凶手将临近婚期的耶鲁女博士砌进墙内，他不能也不愿意袒露自己自卑的内心，只能对动机保持沉默。
失格的母亲贪图享乐，想尽办法想摆脱女儿，她因此一度被称为“最被美国人痛恨的女人”。
五名韩国少年在一次玩耍后，消失了31年，相当多的人都认为这是军方的一次误杀所致。
学生“痴迷”跟踪女教师15年，他说：“别挣扎，挣扎没有用。我们注定要死在一起!”
……
这些离奇案件中，不仅有罪恶阴暗的人性，还有对爱的坚持，和对正义的信心。

人类学博士何袜皮搜集媒体报道、庭审记录和警方公开的资料，重新讲述8个100%真实的案件。罪案或许离奇，但作案动机往往代表了人性中普遍的欲望。
日本福岛县女教师宿舍的便池中，突然离奇出现尸体，凶手究竟是谁？
《杀人回忆》的原型，连环杀手李春在，到底为何成为恶魔？
在美国失踪的中国学生章莹颖，去世前遭遇了怎样的折磨？
杀妻的克里斯和弑母嫌疑人诺拉，又为何对身边亲密的人如此残忍？
……
从这些案件中，可以看到各式各样的人性：谎言、背叛、嫉妒、恐惧，也有对爱的坚持和对正义的信心。
百万粉丝悬疑大号【没药花园】2020重磅新作！重临犯罪现场，超强逻辑推演，巡行人性迷宫！

A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin, by the prize-winning, bestselling author of Say Nothing
The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions—Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations to the arts and the sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing a blockbuster painkiller that was the catalyst for the opioid crisis.
Empire of Pain begins with the story of three doctor brothers, Raymond, Mortimer and the incalculably energetic Arthur, who weathered the poverty of the Great Depression and appalling anti-Semitism. Working at a barbaric mental institution, Arthur saw a better way and conducted groundbreaking research into drug treatments. He also had a genius for marketing, especially for pharmaceuticals, and bought a small ad firm.
Arthur devised the marketing for Valium, and built the first great Sackler fortune. He purchased a drug manufacturer, Purdue Frederick, which would be run by Raymond and Mortimer. The brothers began collecting art, and wives, and grand residences in exotic locales. Their children and grandchildren grew up in luxury.
Forty years later, Raymond’s son Richard ran the family-owned Purdue. The template Arthur Sackler created to sell Valium—co-opting doctors, influencing the FDA, downplaying the drug’s addictiveness—was employed to launch a far more potent product: OxyContin. The drug went on to generate some thirty-five billion dollars in revenue, and to launch a public health crisis in which hundreds of thousands would die.
This is the saga of three generations of a single family and the mark they would leave on the world, a tale that moves from the bustling streets of early twentieth-century Brooklyn to the seaside palaces of Greenwich, Connecticut, and Cap d’Antibes to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. Empire of Pain chronicles the multiple investigations of the Sacklers and their company, and the scorched-earth legal tactics that the family has used to evade accountability. The history of the Sackler dynasty is rife with drama—baroque personal lives; bitter disputes over estates; fistfights in boardrooms; glittering art collections; Machiavellian courtroom maneuvers; and the calculated use of money to burnish reputations and crush the less powerful.
Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling. It is a portrait of the excesses of America’s second Gilded Age, a study of impunity among the super elite and a relentless investigation of the naked greed and indifference to human suffering that built one of the world’s great fortunes.

该剧根据Beth Macy撰写的同名畅销书改编，迈克尔·基顿扮演老派医生塞缪尔·芬尼克斯，他以仁慈和同情心对待自己的工作，但他发现自己陷入了大制药公司致命的秘密之中。

★ 获日本推理作家协会奖、新潮纪实奖，提名大宅壮一非虚构文学奖，被纪伊国屋书店评为年度最佳图书！
★《桶川跟踪狂杀人事件》后，记者清水洁再次倾听微弱的声音，戳破DNA鉴定神话与日本司法的黑暗面 。
★ 日本知名女童失踪案“足利事件”全纪实：亲临案发现场，还原案情细节，叫 停17年冤狱……撼动日本的调查报道！
★ 日本纪实报道必读之作，比肩《黑箱》《巨浪下的小学》的非虚构文学。
=====
1979年，栃木县足利市，五岁女童福岛万弥失踪。
1984年，栃木县足利市，五岁女童长谷部有美失踪。
1987年，群马县太田市，八岁女童大泽朋子失踪。
1990年，栃木县足利市，四岁女童松田真实失踪。
四起案件其实发生在同一区域，位于日本栃木县与群马县交界处。但栃木县警方只办栃木县的案子，群马县警方只办群马县的案子。
1991年，栃木县警方在侦办松田真实失踪案时，逮捕了一名男子，认为他就是三起案件的凶手。警方召开记者见面会，媒体接连报道，令公众相信连环杀童案已全面告破，凶手已落网入狱。
1996年，群马县太田市，四岁的横山由佳梨再次失踪。
·
记者清水洁注意到这一连串事件的关联。
2007年，他重返事件现场。面对普遍认为准确度极高的DNA型鉴定结论，面对警方引以为傲多年的办案功勋，面对即将超过追诉时效的铁案，他大声而坚定地提出质疑。
=====
我被这本书震撼了。我从未读过有如此力量的非虚构作品，我对作者巨大的报道能力只有敬佩之情。
——日本推理作家协会奖评审委员 贵志祐介
清水先生是一位著名的记者，曾采访报道过“桶川跟踪狂杀人事件”“足利事件”等大案，放出过许多推翻警方与检方调查结论的独家特写。
——伊藤诗织在《黑箱》中评价清水洁

本书记录了杰弗里·罗森与金斯伯格两位老友持续近二十年的对话。金斯伯格在此毫无保留地分享了一位大法官眼中的时代议题：法律应该为少数群体做些什么，两性平等在司法案件中推进了多远，最高法院如何应对党派政治的趋势，等等；也谈论友情、生活与爱。对话既呈现出金斯伯格在具体案件中追求平等、正义的深思熟虑，也还原了法袍之下的这位女性，时而严肃时而风趣，真诚而意志坚定，对生活充满热情。

HOW DOES ONE SURVIVE WHEN ALL HOPE IS LOST?
In the middle of the night in 1997, Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe André was kidnapped by armed men and taken away to an unknown destination in the Caucasus region. For three months, André was kept handcuffed in solitary confinement, with little to survive on and almost no contact with the outside world. Close to twenty years later, award-winning cartoonist Guy Delisle (Pyongyang, Jerusalem, Shenzhen, Burma Chronicles) recounts André’s harrowing experience in Hostage, a book that attests to the power of one man’s determination in the face of a hopeless situation.
Marking a departure from the author’s celebrated first-person travelogues, Delisle tells the story through the perspective of the titular captive, who strives to keep his mind alert as desperation starts to set in. Working in a pared down style with muted colour washes, Delisle conveys the psychological effects of solitary confinement, compelling us to ask ourselves some difficult questions regarding the repercussions of negotiating with kidnappers and what it really means to be free. Thoughtful, intense, and moving, Hostage takes a profound look at what drives our will to survive in the darkest of moments.

《守护解放西》是由哔哩哔哩推出的警务纪实观察类真人秀 。
《守护解放西》包括：《守护解放西第一季》《守护解放西第二季》。
该节目以湖南省长沙市坡子街派出所民警为人物核心，深度展示大都市核心商圈城市警察的日常工作 。
节目于2019年9月14日起，每周六20:00在哔哩哔哩播出。
由哔哩哔哩及中广天择传媒股份有限公司联合出品制作的《守护解放西》作为一档观察类真人秀，通过观察纪录式的拍摄手法，以湖南省长沙市坡子街派出所民警为人物核心，深度展示大都市核心商圈城市警察的日常工作。节目共10集，通过民警巡逻、多警种联动、疑犯审讯、要案参与等事件，展现警情 复杂地带的法、理、情、事，塑造有担当、有理性、有人情的人民警察形象，并通过各类案件故事普及相关安全和法律常识。
2019年2月，长沙市公安局与中广天择传媒股份有限公司、长沙电视政法频道开始酝酿策划，计划共同推出一档纪实类警务节目。双方通过前期三个多月的不断讨论和深化创意，就节目形式、核心内容、制作方式、播出平台等事宜达成了一致 。
解放西是长沙、乃至全湖南最繁华的地带，这里人口流量大、不稳定因素多。在1.21平方公里的片区聚集着国金中心等7家大型购物中心、近2500家大小商铺、30家酒吧俱乐部、1300家酒店和宾馆民宿。在这片区每天都发生着各种民事纠纷、治安与刑事案件等待警察的调解与侦察。因此，制作该节目的目的则是展现出有情有感有威严有故事的警察形象，致敬这群守护人民安宁的“最可爱的人”

洞察人间凡事，体味人生百态。央视网系列人文纪录片《人生第一次》旨在通过蹲守拍摄，观察不同人群在人生重要节点的“第一次”：第一次上学、第一次上班、第一次走进军营，许多“第一次”串联起我们人生的重要节点，“初来乍到，请多关照”。

327国债期货事件是中国证券市场的重要案例。
在国内有口皆碑、国际上信誉卓著的万国证券，为逃避误判大势导致的巨额亏损，在收盘前8分钟，利用规则的漏洞，巨量砸盘，使上海证交所代号为327的国债期货合约的价格瞬间大幅下挫，引发市场剧烈波动，也将自己送入万劫不复的深渊。
作者穿过重重迷雾，在不断访谈各方当事人的基础上，结合对数千份、数百万字档案资料的细致考证，以场景再现、人物对话和心理描写等，生动还原了这一惊心动魄的历史事件。本书全面修正了之前版本的史料缺失、遗漏与当事人的记忆差错，是迄今为止关于327事件最接近历史真相的纪实之作。

➢长期太空飞行有哪些艰难挑战？
➢宇宙辐射会对人体产生怎样不可逆转的影响？
➢面临与太空垃圾相撞的灾难性风险，宇航员该怎么办？
➢与所爱之人相隔千里，远离地球的安逸生活，究竟是为了什么？
这本书的作者斯科特 · 凯利是一个在太空中生活了近一年的人，是NASA火星计划中颇具野心的任务之一——双胞胎实验计划的参与者，他曾在国际空间站连续生活340天。
斯科特和他的双胞胎哥哥、NASA宇航员马克共同参与了双胞胎实验计划，斯科特在太空生活，马克则留在地球。通过对比他们两人的身体变化，科学家希望能更进一步地了解太空生活对人体的影响。
这本书真实地记录了斯科特4次非凡的太空之旅，以及他从一个默默无闻的少年成长为航天英雄的传奇历程。斯科特将带我们探索神秘的世界尽头，展现宇航员在太空中的生活：宇航员将看到什么样的景观，将面对怎样的风险，会有怎样的复杂情绪，又该如何适应这个未知的世界。在斯科特的个人故事中，我们看到了人类创造力和意志力的力量，以及银河系数不胜数的壮美奇迹。

From the acclaimed author of River Town and Oracle Bones, an intimate excavation of life in one of the world's oldest civilizations at a time of convulsive change
Drawn by an abiding fascination with Egypt's rich history and civilization, Peter Hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to Cairo to explore a place that had a powerful hold over his imagination. He wanted to learn Arabic, explore Cairo's neighborhoods, research ancient history, and visit the legendary archeological digs. After years of covering China for The New Yorker, friends warned him it would be a much quieter place. But just before his arrival, the Arab Spring had reached Egypt and the country was in chaos.
In the midst of the revolution, he attached himself to an important archeological dig at a site rich in royal tombs known in as al-Madfuna, or "The Buried." He and his wife set out to master Arabic, striking up an important friendship with their language instructor, a cynical political sophisticate named Rifaat. And a very different kind of friendship was formed with their garbage collector, an illiterate neighborhood character named Saaed, whose access to the trash of Cairo would be its own kind of archeological excavation. Along the way, he meets a family of Chinese small business owners who have cornered the nation's lingerie trade; their pragmatic view of the political crisis is a bracing counterpoint to the West's conventional wisdom.
Through the lives of these ordinary Egyptians in a time of tragedy and heartache, while drawing connections between contemporary politics and the ancient past, Hessler creates a richly textured and original portrait of a revolution and the people swept up in it. Whether he's investigating the relics of pharaohs, the neighborhood trash that Saeed brings him, the Arabic vocabulary lists from Rifaat, or the Muslim Brotherhood documents left behind after mobs have looted their offices, Hessler finds subtle and illuminating insights to understand a nation from a new perspective.
What emerges is a book of uncompromising intelligence and glorious humanity. Through the lives of Saeed and Rifaat, we encounter a land in which a weak state has collapsed but its underlying society remains painfully the same. The Buried is an extraordinary achievement that unearths a new world for the reader, one filled with unforgettable people who escape their context and become universal.

本书精选了袁凌十多年来记者生涯中最为杰出的非虚构作品，叙述了十二个惊心动魄的灵魂故事，写出了一百位中国社会底层的人物故事。分为“卑微者”、“出生地”、“生死课”三个部分。其中，侧重于写底层人物对磨难与困境的挣扎，还有新旧一代关于故土的矛盾与争夺。更从无数个跌宕起伏的命运 回声中，为我们呈现了一片震撼的精神与生存景观。本书中的多篇文章曾经在互联网引起轰动，但碍于版面，这些文章都未曾以全貌呈现，本书是这批精彩作品第一次以全貌形式呈现给读者。

☞ 不读不是英国人！每个英国人都读过的现象级畅销书！半年狂销100万册，出版当天英国亚马逊全网瘫痪3小时！6年221篇男妇科大夫的私密日记，风靡33国的爆笑妇科段子集锦！3句话1个笑点，脸红心跳到根本停不下来！这次可是真的读懂女人了！
☞ 史上更好看、更好笑、更有人气的医生日记！自出版以来任性霸占各畅销书单和亚马逊图书畅销榜榜首！收获亚马逊5000条读者好评，Goodreads口碑榜50000条读者好评！拿奖拿到手软，荣获“国家图书奖”三项大奖（年度新人奖、年度最受欢迎作品、年度图书俱乐部作品）、“《星期日泰晤士报》年度幽默图书”、“The Books Are My Bag”两项大奖（年度图书奖、读者奖）、“Blackwell 年度处女作奖”、“年度电子书奖”、“Slightly Foxed 最佳传记处女作奖”等多项大奖！
☞ 超越老牌喜剧《是，大臣》《IT狂人》的英式幽默，笑到歪腰肚疼都停不下来！BBC重金砸下剧集版权，2019火热登场！《卫报》《星期日泰晤士报》《每日快报》《每日电讯报》《独立报》《金融时报》《观察者报》联袂推荐！英国皇家全科医生协会前任主席克莱尔•杰拉达、英国著名喜剧演员斯蒂芬•弗雷赞不绝口！
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【内容简介】
-----欢迎来到实习医生亚当 • 凯的爆笑日常！------
◆ 凯医生之工作糟心篇
• 想了解每周工作97小时是一种怎样的体验吗？——买不起房的可怜时薪、被怀疑出轨的高负荷工作、浑身沾满海啸般喷发的各种人体体液、得不到夸赞的救人日常、极易产生的心理问题……
001：这是本周我第三次被别人的鲜血浸湿内裤了，有什么办法呢？我只能扔掉内裤，继续回去工作。这可是CK的，15英镑一条，我感觉自己是越工作越穷啊。
002：我告诉一位病人，他得等到下周才能做上核磁共振，他听后威胁说要打断我的腿。我的第一个想法居然是“太好了，这样就能歇几周病假了”。
◆ 凯医生之呵呵呵篇
• 你想象过男妇科医生每天要面对哪些“奇葩”吗？——对妇科常识无知到让人抓狂、上演各种“小孔塞大物”的闹剧（你可能再也无法直视腌小黄瓜、遥控器、马桶刷、健达奇趣蛋和肯德基全家桶了）、产前宣布要吃掉自己的胎盘……
001：在急诊室给病人开了事后避孕药，然后她问我：“昨晚我跟三个人睡了，只吃一粒够吗？”
002：是的，夫人，产妇在生孩子过程中确实会不小心拉出大便。不过假如你昨天问我这个问题的话，我会建议你不要吃那一大盘“助产”的咖喱，对你担心的这件事一点儿好处都没有。
◆ 凯医生之掏心窝子篇
• 医生是手握母亲和婴儿生死大权的人——一名伟大的医生得有颗肥大的心脏和扩张的主动脉，才能不断把涌溢的同情心和善意泵出给这个世界。因为无论多么谨慎，悲剧总有一天会重演。你无处可逃，你拼尽全力，却还是要接受一个无力挽回的悲伤结局……
• 当选择成为一名妇产科医生，意味着……——他说：“妇产科是唯一一个让我兴奋，并且真的有所期待的地方。”

本书是基层民警深蓝写的一部自己亲身经历的故事集。这些故事中有反映对子女教育问题的 “要命的熊孩子”；有反映养老问题的 “凭什么要我管我妈”；有反映医闹、“碰瓷”乱象的“生也医闹，死也医闹”“‘碰瓷’者的下场”；有反映改过自新，重新做人的“被全家人逼着去卖身的女孩”“插他两刀的兄弟”“报告阿sir，杀人犯想做刑侦特情”；有涉及贪腐寻租，以权谋私，最终自食恶果的“‘公务员考试社’社长的歧路” “再也娶不到好妻子的官二代” “就怕真的把领导告倒”；有反映赌博、毒品害人的“我的父亲是毒贩” “我的朋友是赌徒”；等等。

30年间重播2000多次 老版《西游记》已成为无法逾越的经典
它串联着几代中国人的情感记忆 影响着一个时代的影像历史
总导演杨洁83岁高龄首次著书 最权威真实地披露不为人知的拍摄内幕
还原一段被尘封的历史 致敬所有的工作人员和《西游记》剧迷
全新披露200多幅珍贵剧照及工作照
86版《西游记》最权威解读！
时值1986版《西游记》开拍30周年之际，杨洁导演首次著书公开当年拍摄细节。当年激情澎湃的她，立志要把名著《西游记》改编成雅俗共赏的电视剧，因此肩挑重任，与主创人员一起开始了激情燃烧的奋斗岁月。在选角、选景、拍摄过程中，出现了数都数不清的难事、趣事、神奇事，让人吃惊、担心、大笑、感动！这不仅仅是一本拍摄手记，更是杨洁导演等一代艺术家的铿锵人生，同时，也从一个侧面反映了一个时代乃至整个中国的时态变迁，读来感人励志，振奋人心！

那天夜里，直到那场较量开始前，少林寺还是很平静的。
一家法国杂志来少林寺拍些僧人的照片，我便安排我的朋友兼武艺指导德清和尚、成浩和尚还有严师父给他们摆了几个姿势。拍照非常成功，于是对方邀请我们所有人共进晚餐。
我们刚刚开始吃饭，另一桌的女服务员就走了过来，在德清和严师父耳边低语了些什么。
“他真的说想切磋一下？”德清问道，手中紧紧握着酒杯，看样子随时都可能把酒杯捏碎似的，“就是要挑战我们喽。”
“哪个人？”严师父问。
“他姓吴，”服务员说，“说是从天津来的武术大师，那些是他的弟子。”
“那就让我和他过过招，”德清继续说道，“我一定要打死他！”
严师父按住德清的手，“让我想想。”
严师父为人谨慎，深谋远虑；德清则天真率直，大大咧咧。严师父二十五岁了，比十九岁的德清和他师兄都要年长，于是德清不说话了。严师父的脸是功夫片里标准的恶棍脸，极其丑陋，让人过目难忘。我挺喜欢他的。
至少那晚之前一直如此。
我扭头发现严师父正看着我，脸上微微露出笑意。
“包默思，”严师父叫着我的中文名，“你先和他打。”
德清简直不能相信自己的耳朵。
“你不能让他先打，要是输了怎么办？这可事关少林的声誉和脸面啊。”
严师父端起一杯白酒，一饮而尽。
“包默思，我已经决定了，”严师父眼里闪烁着期许，脸上又有些幸灾乐祸的笑意,“一刻钟之后，你和吴大师在训练大厅较量。”
“一刻钟之后？”我傻眼了。
“咱们去吧。”严师父说。

我們把在潮中戲水的弄潮兒，來比喻有勇敢進取精神的人。
本書分為兩個部分。第一部分的主人公是企業家。他們從貧窮到富有的故事多姿多彩，而且帶有明顯的中國特色：潘石屹、張欣是一對在外人看來不太可能成為夫妻的夫妻，攜手成為中國房地產界中的翹楚；孫立哲是一個善於順應時代潮流的天才，把自己從文革中毛澤東喜愛的「赤腳醫生」變成了特立獨行的出版商；張大中是一個矢志為母親洗清冤屈的家電連鎖企業巨頭，他的母親以「反革命分子」的罪名被當局用最殘忍的方式處決。
第二組人物以知識分子為主。文中涉及北京大學的教授們，他們如何捲入了一場關於教育改革的激烈論戰；作者哥哥查建國，一個因參與組建「中國民主黨」而獲罪並在監獄服刑九年的持不同政見者；最後是一位當過文化部長的作家王蒙，人們為他到底是共產黨的辯護士亦或是可能獲得諾貝爾文學獎的偉大作家而分成兩派。
追蹤並記錄這些鮮活的人物和他們的故事，讓這些故事加深讀者對當代中國的理解。這本書可以幫助讀者更好地瞭解目前發生在中國以及中國人身邊的、錯綜複雜、前景未明但卻生機勃勃的歷史轉變。

Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage—a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work.
Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions. This unusual perspective distinguishes Strange Stones, which showcases Hessler’s unmatched range as a storyteller. “Wild Flavor” invites readers along on a taste test between two rat restaurants in South China. One story profiles Yao Ming, basketball star and China’s most beloved export, another David Spindler, an obsessive and passionate historian of the Great Wall. In “Dr. Don,” Hessler writes movingly about a small-town pharmacist and his relationship with the people he serves.
While Hessler’s subjects and locations vary, subtle but deeply important thematic links bind these pieces—the strength of local traditions, the surprising overlap between apparently opposing cultures, and the powerful lessons drawn from individuals who straddle different worlds.