The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous LifeA thrilling page-turner of epic proportions, Tom Reiss’s panoramic bestseller tells the true story of a Jew who transformed himself into a Muslim prince in Nazi Germany. Lev Nussimbaum escaped the Russian Revolution in a camel caravan and, as “Essad Bey,” became a celebrated author with the enduring novel Ali and Nino as well as an adventurer, a real-life Indiana Jones with a fatal secret. Reiss 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. |
Contents
Revolution | 3 |
Wild Jews | 31 |
The Way East | 47 |
Escape | 75 |
Constantinople 1921 | 105 |
Minarets and Silk Stockings | 123 |
PART 2 | 143 |
The Berlin Wall | 169 |
Backing into the Inferno | 243 |
A Tough Morsel for the Melting Pot | 273 |
Mussolini and Mrs Kurban Said | 293 |
Positano | 321 |
NOTES | 343 |
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY | 385 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 413 |
PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 415 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abraham Nussimbaum Ali and Nino American anti-Semitic Armenian Army Asia Azerbaijan Azeri Baku became Berlin Bey to Pima Blood and Oil Bolsheviks Brailow British cafés caliph called caravan Caspian Caucasian Caucasus century Cheka Christian Communist Constantinople culture czar czar's czarist desert East Ehrenfels Elfriede Emigration émigrés Empire Erika Essad Bey Europe European exiles Fascist father fighting Freikorps friends George Sylvester Viereck Georgian German girls Hitler Ibid imperial Islam Italian Jewish Jews Judaism Khan Kizel-Su knew Kurban land later Lenin Letter from Essad Lev found Lev Nussimbaum Lev recalled Lev wrote Lev's liberal lived looked Mann mother mountain Jews murder Muslim Mussolini Nazi never Nino novel Orient Orientalist Osman Ottoman Paris Persia Pima Andreae police political Positano published Rathenau refugees revolution revolutionary Russian seemed soldiers Soviet Stalin story street things tion told took Turkestan Turkish Vienna women writing York Zionist