The Book of Charlie

by David von Drehle

life can be savored even though it contains hardship, disappointment, loss, and even brutality. The choice to see its beauty is available to us at every moment.

He had a gift for seizing joy, grabbing opportunities, and holding on to things that matter. And he had an unusual knack for an even more difficult task: letting go of all the rest.

Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp were still alive. Masterson was a sports columnist for a New York City newspaper in 1922, author of the memorable observation that “we all get the same amount of ice. The rich get it in the summertime, and the poor get it in the winter.”