Tom Reiss Books

The Orientalist unravels the mysterious life of a man born on the border between West and East, a Jewish man with a passion for the Arab world. Tom Reiss first came across the man who called himself 'Kurban Said' when he went to the ex-USSR to research the oil business on the Caspian Sea, and discovered a novel instead. Written on the eve of the Second World War, Ali and Nino is a captivating love story set in the glamorous city of Baku, Azerbaijan's capital. The novel's depiction of a lost cosmopolitan society is enthralling, but equally intriguing is the identity of the man who wrote it. Who was its supposed author? And why was he so forgotten that no one could agree on the simplest facts about him? For five years, Reiss tracked Lev Nussimbaum, alias Kurban Said, from a wealthy Jewish childhood in Baku, to a romantic adolescence in Persia on the run from the Bolsheviks, and an exile in Berlin as bestselling author and self-proclaimed Muslim prince. 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.

Awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Biography, this book delves into the life of a remarkable individual, exploring their personal struggles, achievements, and the impact they had on their field and society. Richly detailed and meticulously researched, it offers a compelling narrative that captures the essence of the subject's character and the historical context in which they lived. Through vivid storytelling, readers gain insight into the complexities of their life and the legacy they left behind.

This biography traces the almost unbelievable life of the man who inspired not only Monte Cristo, but all three of the Musketeers: the novelist's own father.

A 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.

Jeden człowiek, trzy tożsamości i niezwykła opowieść o jednej z najbardziej fascynujących mistyfikacji XX wieku. Lew Nissimbaum, syn przedsiębiorcy naftowego i pochodzącej z rosyjskiej arystokracji komunistki. Essad Bej, potomek azerskiego księcia. Kurban Said, autor głośnej książki Ali i Nino. Trzy nazwiska, trzy życia i łączący je człowiek. Wciągająca historia mężczyzny-kameleona, zafascynowanego Orientem rosyjskiego Żyda, nawróconego na islam płodnego pisarza, biografa Stalina i Mahometa... Tom Reiss dociera do źródeł tej przedziwnej mistyfikacji i tworzy poruszający obraz niespokojnej, dwudziestowiecznej rzeczywistości.

Unveränderter Nachdruck der Originalausgabe von 1867.

Diese Abhandlung untersucht erstmalig in der deutschsprachigen Forschung die Texte Haruki Murakamis und ihre intertextuelle Verbindung zum Werk Franz Kafkas. Anhand semiotischer, ästhetischer und phänomenologischer Methoden erarbeitet die Abhandlung ein Modell zur avancierten Analyse phantastischer Literatur, insbesondere Kafkas und Murakamis.