An upcoming book to be published by Penguin Random House.
Norman Eisen Book order (chronological)
This author delves into the clash between liberalism and illiberalism by weaving together the lives of those who inhabited his Prague residence before him. His narrative bridges the stories of the home's builder, a Nazi occupier, a post-war American rescuer, and a Cold War film star-ambassador. At the heart of his work is the personal legacy of his mother, a Czech Holocaust survivor who sent him back to Prague. His writing often explores themes of ethics and political commentary.
When Norman Eisen moved into the US ambassador's residence in Prague, returning to the land his mother had fled after the Holocaust, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture. From that discovery unspooled the captivating, twisting tale of the remarkable people who lived in the house before Eisen. Their story is Europe's, telling the dramatic and surprisingly cyclical tale of the endurance of liberal democracy: the optimistic Jewish financial baron who built the palace; the conflicted Nazi general who put his life at risk for the house during World War II; the first postwar US ambassador struggling to save both the palace and Prague from communist hands; the child star- turned-diplomat who fought to end totalitarianism; and Eisen's own mother, whose life demonstrates how those without power and privilege moved through history. The Last Palace chronicles the upheavals that have transformed the continent over the past century and reveals how we never live far from the past.