Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His 1918 book “Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man” was recently reissued by New York Review of Books, with an introduction by Mark Lilla. In an essay in the New York Times Book Review last weekend, which is illustrated using this portrait by Karsh, Christopher Beha writes: “Reflections” is a strange, frequently off-putting book, a 500-page assault on democracy, enlightenment and reason that is also an act of petty score-settling, written in a frothing tone completely at odds with the stately irony for which Mann is remembered. And yet, at the moment, the book feels not just worthy of our attention but somehow indispensable.” Read more (subscription).