Scraps, Orts, and Fragments: Pieces of a Life is a collection of essays, written in fits over several years, comprising what the title suggests: snapshots of a life without any attempt to fashion them into a coherent narrative. Michael Rosenthal explores subjects as diverse as his teen-age fascination with Hubert's Flea Circus on New York's 42nd Street; life with his stoic father; sex in the fifties (for "Nice Horace Mann boys"); a brief and unspectacular performance as a janitor while a graduate student in Wisconsin; step-fathering; assorted aspects of a long career as a college Dean; and Rosenthal's tenure as a member of the Board of Directors of a wildly successful company on the New York Stock Exchange. And other memorable moments . . . some treated head-on, some with a gentle irony they deserve. In Scraps, Orts, and Fragments, Rosenthal has provided opportunities for people to experience a life through his eyes, and as he states, experiences which are "interesting for me to have lived it all, perhaps amusing and interesting for readers."
