Elephant Street offers a series of poetic responses to the vulnerability of the human urbanite in the twenty-first century. This vulnerability has always been with us, as has the ages-old quest for some form of safe passage through an existence in which our loved ones, our bodies and our very lives are on loan to us.

Ron Charach has learned about terror – external and internal – at the side of patients whose exquisite sensitivity makes them, willingly or not, the antennae of the race. His understanding of the human condition gives the lie to wishful phrases like homeland security, which are of little more comfort than scientific promises that our molecules persist forever after we die.

In this compelling book, we cross Elephant Street with its booming radios, smoky hot-dog smells and hurling traffic, with comforting Biblical passages ringing in our ears. We are in the company of a good friend who challenges us to lay aside our transcendentalism and enjoy the brief respite that comes from toasting the ironies of the human condition with an imaginary glass of wine.