My Utopia
American art critic and philosopher, BERNARD BERENSONwas born in Lithuania in 1865, educated at Boston Latin and at Harvard, became a protégé of Mrs. Jack Gardner and a consultant for her growing collection, and eventually took up his residence in Italy, where he is an Honorary Citizen of Florence. His new book, Rumor and Reflection, which Simon and Schuster are publishing this autumn, describes his thoughts and experiences while a “ civilian prisoner ” in Italy from 1941 to 1944. In spite of his age and renown, he was in increasing danger after the Allied landing in Sicily; friends smuggled him out of his villa and kept him in hiding until the Liberation. It was at this time that he wrote in his diary such Reflections as follow.