Living Among the Swiss

This book describes the authors experiences during eight years of living and working among the Swiss. It examines several aspects of the Swiss banking system from the viewpoints of consumers investors and employees. It depicts cultural differences as well as the practical difficulties confronting the new immigrant as he seeks to put down roots. It seeks to edify the vicarious traveler as well as those seriously considering relocation here. Finally it celebrates in some detail the beauty of this relatively simple and honest land with especial emphasis on the cantons of Berner Oberland Graubünden and Wallis as well as the environs of Zürich. While the observations focus on the German-Swiss they are surprisingly applicable to the French- and Italian-speaking cantons as well. This book falls somewhere between a travel guide and a book of reflections and memoirs and thus is an unashamedly open and frank reaction to a foreign way of life. Michael Wells Gluecks gaze falls on many aspects of Swiss existence and it never loses its particular unique focus. Living Among The Swiss will provide much information for the reader who will learn from its pages a great deal about the world of Switzerland and beyond and also be privileged to form a distinct picture of Mr. Glueck himself: a former Woodrow Wilson Fellow who taught English and Classics at Columbia and other U.S. universities for several years before entering the investment business in 1969. His biography is sketched in the 2001 and subsequent editions of Whos Who In America.Reviewer: Rita Kasper from Klosters SwitzerlandA jewel of a memoir that captures the beauty and peacefulness of Switzerland as well as the glacial stolidity of many of its inhabitants. Discusses everything Swiss from age and sex discrimination to xenophobia. Combines a travel guide to the cantons of Zurich the Bernese Alps Central Switzerland Wallis or Valais and Graubunden or Grisons - with emphasis on skiing hiking and fine dining - with an analysis of questionable Swiss banking and investment practices some of which would be illegal in the U.S. Provides a primer for those seeking actually or vicariously to adapt to Swiss society and culture. Written in a spirit of satire with wit humor and a tincture of scholarship by a highly educated American whose factual impressions of a foreign way of life are far more entertaining than many recently introduced works of fiction.Reviewer: Dr. Vollrat von Deichmann from Wiesbaden. GermanyI find the author extremely well educated which as a German who taught forestry at Arizona State University in the U.S. I consider quite unusual for an American. He clearly has a strong background in Latin and he taught me many new English words for which I am grateful. I also found much new information about places in Switzerland that I thought I had known. Finally the book is extremely informative entertaining witty and humorous.