Books, Writing, History, and Me
In “Books, Writing, History, and Me” I share my thoughts on travel, cooking, van-life, books, the process of writing, the experiences of an indie-publisher, WWII, the Holocaust, and anything else I feel might be of interest to readers of my books. Please send me comments and let me know what you like and what you want to know more about. Everything in this blog reflects my personal ideas and feelings–a memoir of sorts, it is my perspective and any errors or omissions are mine.
The Spirit of Dunkirk
“While Herman enjoyed the intoxicating scene at the Zebra Room, the news from Europe continued to spiral downward. . . . Headlines blared the harsh news of the massacre at Dunkirk . . .” Dunkirk marked the dismal failure of the Battle of France in May 1940. In the United States, the word Dunkirk represents…
An Enemy Alien in the Phoney War
Only weeks after Herman’s mother arrived in England, Germany invaded Poland. Within days, Britain and France declared war on Germany in response. “Mother and son now found themselves not only refugees but also classified as enemy aliens in a foreign land.” The internment of such civilian nationals of enemy countries was standard practice at the…
Happy Days at The Wilderness
One of the unexpected bonuses that came with the publication of Immigrant Soldier has been a connection between myself and my English cousin. In the novel, Hazel is the un-named baby who is trundled in her pram to the underground shelter each night by Edith and Clara. Raised in different continents, separated by wartime, the Atlantic Ocean,…
Did That Really Happen?
Readers of Immigrant Soldier often ask me how much of the novel actually happened and how much was born from my imagination. The earliest finished manuscript, with the somewhat deceptive title of Becoming an American, was written as nonfiction for young adults. When I decided to rewrite it as a novel for adults, I wanted it to remain…
Faction—What Is It?
Since the publication of Immigrant Soldier in February of this year, I have been actively marketing it to museum gift shops. I am proud that through these efforts, the novel is now available at quite a few Holocaust and World War II museums across the country. However, several important museums let me know that their…
In Their Own Words
My interest in the Ritchie Boys goes well beyond my uncle’s story. Luckily, there is a growing selection of memoirs and nonfiction accounts of the experiences of Ritchie Boys available to interested readers. Each man’s story adds to the literature of the Holocaust, World War II, and the “Greatest Generation.” I have selected five that…
Life on the Ringstrasse and a Ritchie Boy Discovered
This year, I read two books that reveal the opulent life of many Jewish families living in Vienna, Austria before World War II. Both books are well worth reading for their intimate view of these families, the leaders of Austrian business, thought, and artistic culture in the first four decades of the twentieth century— of…
Family Album
Several of my readers have expressed disappointment that Immigrant Soldier does not have photos. Other than the pictures used on the cover, I decided that because the book was written as a novel, it would be better without photos which might inhibit a reader’s imagination. You will find some pictures of Herman on various pages of this…
Immigrant Soldier Gets a Facelift
Recently I spent a few mornings and afternoons talking to ladies at my gym where the owner kindly let me set up a table and bring copies of Immigrant Soldier to sell. As usual, people told me the WWII stories of their relatives, asked me how long it took me to write the book, and wanted to…
Meiningen, A Hometown Revisited
Both my father and Herman had fond memories of their hometown, Meiningen, located in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany, and just over the border into what was, from 1945 until 1990, East Germany. I was able to travel there in the Spring of 1991 with my elderly parents and one of…
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