One of my favorite places is the New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd St. This last visit took me through my personal history, US history, and the world of ideas. — A number of my books were born here, specifically in the Rare Books and Manuscripts and Archives Divisions. And the New York Public Library (NYPL) became a protagonist as well. How could it not? It has beauty, history, mystery, lovers, enemies, and verse, prose, and hieroglyphics in all languages. …