Tarzan on the Main

“Most people who know me,” writes Wilhelm Genazino, “are surprised I live in Frankfurt.” But why should they be? Probably because everyone assumes “Frankfurt is ugly, sordid, squalid, suburban and square – in short, altogether insufferable.”
That may be true – and so what? Genazino asks. Do all those impeccably picturesque cities offer a better quality of life? Are they really so much more interesting and important? Or are the proponents of beautiful and exciting cityscapes simply deluded?