Edition |
1st ed. |
Description |
xxvii, 433 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (p. [385]-411) and index. |
Summary |
This book traces the life of Lev Nussimbaum, a Jew who transformed himself into a Muslim prince and became a best-selling author in Nazi Germany. He was invited to be Mussolini's official biographer-- until the Fascists discovered his "true" identity. Under house arrest, he wrote his last book, helped by a mysterious half-German salon hostess, an Algerian weapons-smuggler, and the poet Ezra Pound. As he tracks down the pieces of Lev'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. |
Subject |
Said, Kurban.
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Authors, German -- 20th century -- Biography.
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Viereck, George Sylvester, 1884-1962.
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ISBN |
1400062659 (alk. paper) |
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