Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for The Orientalist by Tom Reiss - Available

The Orientalist

Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life

by Tom Reiss
Paul Michael
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
Part history, part cultural biography, and part literary mystery, The Orientalist traces the life of Lev Nussimbaum, a Jew who transformed himself into a Muslim prince and became a best-selling author in Nazi Germany. 
Born in 1905 to a wealthy family in the oil-boom city of Baku, at the edge of the czarist empire, Lev escaped the Russian Revolution in a camel caravan.  He found refuge in Germany, where, writing under the names Essad Bey and Kurban Said, his remarkable books about Islam, desert adventures, and global revolution, became celebrated across fascist Europe.  His enduring masterpiece, Ali and Nino–a story of love across ethnic and religious boundaries, published on the eve of the Holocaust–is still in print today.
But Lev’s life grew wilder than his wildest stories.  He married an international heiress who had no idea of his true identity–until she divorced him in a tabloid scandal.  His closest friend in New York, George Sylvester Viereck–also a friend of both Freud’s and Einstein’s–was arrested as the leading Nazi agent in the United States.  Lev was invited to be Mussolini’s official biographer–until the Fascists discovered his “true” identity.  Under house arrest in the Amalfi cliff town of Positano, Lev wrote his last book–discovered in a half a dozen notebooks never before read by anyone–helped by a mysterious half-German salon hostess, an Algerian weapons-smuggler, and the poet Ezra Pound. 
Tom Reiss spent five years tracking down secret police records, love letters, diaries, and the deathbed notebooks.  Beginning with a yearlong investigation for The New Yorker, he pursued Lev’s story across ten countries and found himself caught up in encounters as dramatic and surreal, and sometimes as heartbreaking, as his subject’s life.  Reiss’s quest for the truth buffets him from one weird character to the next: from the last heir of the Ottoman throne to a rock opera-composing baroness in an Austrian castle, to an aging starlet in a Hollywood bungalow full of cats and turtles.
As he tracks down the pieces of Lev Nussimbaum’s deliberately obscured life, Reiss discovers a series of shadowy worlds–of European pan-Islamists, nihilist assassins, anti-Nazi book smugglers, Baku oil barons, Jewish Orientalists–that have also been forgotten.  The result is a thoroughly unexpected picture of the twentieth century–of the origins of our ideas about race and religious self-definition, and of the roots of modern fanaticism and terrorism.  Written with grace and infused with wonder, The Orientalist is an astonishing book.
 

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 4, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780525496731
      • File size: 459810 KB
      • Duration: 15:57:56

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      August 1, 2017

      Reiss (The Black Count) has an undeniable talent for writing engrossing biographies that capture a time and place as much as they do a person. Here he paints a fascinating picture of the elusive author Lev Nussimbaum, a Russian Jew born in Baku (now the capital of Azerbaijan), who reinvented himself as a Muslim prince and became a best-selling author and famed Orientalist under the pseudonyms Kurban Said and Essad Bey. On a whirlwind journey from Azerbaijan to New York and Germany, Reiss uncovers the real Nussimbaum, providing an evocative sense of the political climate in Europe and Asia in the early 20th century and some understanding of how political and cultural identities can clash. Narrator Paul Michael's deep baritone and clear reading give the book a documentary-like feel and an academic tone that significantly slows the pace (which is problematic for a nearly 16-hour read). While Michael narrates the majority of the book, the author narrates the foreword, and his passion for the subject is undeniable and contagious. It is truly a shame that the entire book was not narrated by Reiss. VERDICT Well written, fascinating, and a gem for those who stick around for the entire work. Because of the popularity of The Black Count, this book will have no problem finding an audience. Consider pairing it with Naomi Duguid's Taste of Persia narrative cookbook or similar titles to give readers a real flavor to complement their literary travel.--Cathleen Keyser, NoveList, Durham, NC

      Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading