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emjay24's review against another edition
1.0
I read the whole introduction, and half of the first chapter. This book is like a textbook. I flipped forward through to see if it would get any different, but it doesn't appear to. I really don't have the interest or attention span for it. I got it because it's a bestseller and i like learning about people's lives. If you are smart and like textbookiness, you might like this. It's probably very good for that.
beccakatie's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
Intertwining the life of Leo Nussimbaum with the history of politics and conflict in early twentieth-century Europe, this book is a fascinating study of religious, racial and political identity, and how they can be forged and changed.
The structure of the book, alternating between wider context and the personal life of Nussimbaum helps engage the reader, and the insertion of the author and his time researching adds a different perspective to many historical biographies.
Nussimbaum is without a doubt a complex and mysterious figure, and to write a biography as in depth as this when there is so much confusion is admirable. Many of the sources quoted seem so simple and mainstream, adding an extra layer as to how this man became lost to time so quickly.
This book is a very sympathetic and informative portrayal of a man with such complex views and a mysterious personal history.
The structure of the book, alternating between wider context and the personal life of Nussimbaum helps engage the reader, and the insertion of the author and his time researching adds a different perspective to many historical biographies.
Nussimbaum is without a doubt a complex and mysterious figure, and to write a biography as in depth as this when there is so much confusion is admirable. Many of the sources quoted seem so simple and mainstream, adding an extra layer as to how this man became lost to time so quickly.
This book is a very sympathetic and informative portrayal of a man with such complex views and a mysterious personal history.
liberrydude's review against another edition
3.0
This book is an education and review on so many major events surrounding the life of its subject: the Russian Revolution; the German Revolution; Turkey and the Ottoman Empire; the rise of Hitler; Zionism; and Jewish Orientalism. Who knew there was such a concept? Basically Jews who sought a rapprochement with Muslims as fellow Semitic peoples against European discrimination and rejection and thought them worthy of emulation and respect.
Essad Bey could be called the Borat of his time. Prolific does not adequately describe his output. A strange man whose life was filled with an excess of both money and tragedy. His books were as popular as Steinbeck but no one has heard of him. He’s the most famous author of Azerbaijan but his Jewishness is dismissed as a lie. Essad Bey was Kurban Said was Lev Nussinbaum.
Reiss spent years investigating who exactly Essad Bey was and where his path took him. It’s fascinating but also dry at times. Reiss lays it all out there. As a result I’ve got no desire to read Bey’s famous novel, Ali and Nino, written under the nom de plume, Kurban Said, nor his autobiography, Blood and Oil in the Orient, written as Essad Bey. Read enough.
Essad Bey could be called the Borat of his time. Prolific does not adequately describe his output. A strange man whose life was filled with an excess of both money and tragedy. His books were as popular as Steinbeck but no one has heard of him. He’s the most famous author of Azerbaijan but his Jewishness is dismissed as a lie. Essad Bey was Kurban Said was Lev Nussinbaum.
Reiss spent years investigating who exactly Essad Bey was and where his path took him. It’s fascinating but also dry at times. Reiss lays it all out there. As a result I’ve got no desire to read Bey’s famous novel, Ali and Nino, written under the nom de plume, Kurban Said, nor his autobiography, Blood and Oil in the Orient, written as Essad Bey. Read enough.
thehappybooker's review against another edition
3.0
Not a bad book at all, but it didn't strike my fancy so I abandoned it. I'm fickle like that.
quigs07's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
wendyclinch's review against another edition
2.0
I expected something a bit more biographical. Instead, what I got was a history on 1900-1944 Caucasus/Soviet Union/Europe. Not what I was hoping for, and a bit of a long slog.