Tom Reiss
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Tom Reiss (born May 5, 1964) is an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
author, historian, and journalist. He is the author of three nonfiction books, the latest of which is '' The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo'' (2012), which received the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. His previous books are ''Führer-Ex: Memoirs of a Former Neo-Nazi'' (1996), the first inside exposé of the European neo-Nazi movement; and ''The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life'' (2005), which became an international bestseller. As a journalist, Reiss has written for ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', and ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''.


Early life and education

Reiss was born on May 5, 1964 in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, to Jewish parents. He spent his first years of his life in Washington Heights in Manhattan and then in San Antonio and Dallas, Texas, where his father worked as an Air Force neurosurgeon. After that, his family moved to western Massachusetts, and he spent the rest of his childhood and adolescence in New England. He attended the Hotchkiss School and then
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
, where he joined the writing and editing staffs of ''
The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...
'' newspaper and ''
The Harvard Advocate ''The Harvard Advocate'', the art and literary magazine of Harvard College, is the oldest continuously published college art and literary magazine in the United States. The magazine (published then in newspaper format) was founded by Charles S. ...
'' magazine, graduating in 1987. In 1989, Reiss returned to Texas to study creative writing at the
University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...
, under the guidance of professor
Donald Barthelme Donald Barthelme (April 7, 1931 – July 23, 1989) was an American short story writer and novelist known for his playful, postmodernist style of short fiction. Barthelme also worked as a newspaper reporter for the ''Houston Post'', was managing ...
.


Career

When Barthelme died in summer 1989, Reiss left Texas and traveled to Germany in order to begin researching his family history, and became fascinated by the rapidly changing political and social context in
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
after the Berlin Wall fell. In order to effectively search documents and communicate with German citizens, he taught himself the
German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is als ...
. Reiss used his German to better understand members of his family, who had escaped Nazi Europe in the 1930s. His maternal grandparents had been murdered by the Nazis, after being deported from Paris to Auschwitz, but his mother survived as a hidden child in France during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. While in Germany, he also interviewed
East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
neo-Nazi youth, in an attempt to learn why they were embracing the political and sociological ideals of their ancestors. Reiss was influenced by various jobs he held, such as hospital orderly, bartender, small business entrepreneur, teacher, and, in Japan, rock band member and actor in television commercials and gangster films.


Books


''Führer-Ex''

Reiss co-wrote the English version of Ingo Hasselbach's memoir ''Führer-Ex: Memoirs of a Former Neo-Nazi'', published in 1996 by
Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
. The German-language version, titled ''Die Abrechnung: ein Neonazi steigt aus'', had been published in 1993 by Aufbau-Verlag and co-written with Winfried Bonengel, who subsequently co-wrote and directed the 2002 German film adaptation of the story, titled ''Führer Ex''. The memoir was the first inside exposé of the European neo-Nazi movement, told from the perspective of a young East German coming of age in the extremist youth subcultures of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Hasselbach had been the leader of the East German neo-Nazis, and in 1993 had renounced the movement in a spectacular manner. For the English-language version of his memoir, during the summer of 1994 Hasselbach and Reiss stayed in an isolated cabin in Sweden where Hasselbach was in hiding, and Reiss interviewed him for the book. A 21,000-word excerpt of ''Führer-Ex'' appeared in ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' magazine under the title "How Nazis Are Made".


''The Orientalist''

In 2005, Reiss published ''The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life''. In the book Reiss details and analyzes the life of Russian Jewish-born
Lev Nussimbaum Lev Nussimbaum (October 17, 1905 – August 27, 1942), who wrote under the pen names Essad Bey and Kurban Said, was a writer and journalist, born in Kiev to a Jewish family. He lived there and in Baku during his childhood before fleeing the Bols ...
(1905–1942), who as a teen fled the
Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
with his father in 1920. The Nussimbaums sought refuge in several locations, including
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
and Paris, and in 1922 ended up in Germany. There, Nussimbaum converted to Islam, disguised himself as a Muslim prince, and became an author, publishing prolifically under his new name " Essad Bey". In part of the early 1930s, Nussimbaum lived in New York City and Hollywood, but was unable to immigrate to the U.S. and returned to Germany. In 1937, according to Reiss, he published the classic novel '' Ali and Nino: A Love Story'', under the pseudonym "
Kurban Said Kurban Said ( az, Qurban Səid/, ) is the pseudonym of the author of '' Ali and Nino'', a novel originally published in 1937 in the German language by the Austrian publisher E.P. Tal. The novel has since been published in more than 30 languages. ...
". In 1938 Nussimbaum fled
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and went into hiding in Italy, where he died in 1942. Reiss traveled to ten countries to research the book, which details not only Nussimbaum's life, but also extensive local and historical background of the times, and also Reiss's search to find and piece together Nussimbaum's biographical details. ''The Orientalist'' appeared on many "top ten" lists in 2005, and was shortlisted for the 2006
Samuel Johnson Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its ...
for best nonfiction book in the English language. It has been translated into more than 20 languages.


''The Black Count''

Reiss's 2012 book, ''The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo'', won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and the 2013 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography. It is the biography of General
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (; known as Alexandre Dumas; 25 March 1762 – 26 February 1806) was a Creole General officer, general, from The French colony of Saint-Domingue, in French Revolution, Revolutionary France. Along ...
, the mixed-race son of a French marquis and a Haitian slave, who became a swashbuckling swordsman in Paris and then a military hero of the
French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...
, remaining the highest-ranking black military figure in a Western army until Gen. Colin Powell 200 years later. Dumas's rivalry with
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
caused him to leave the
Egyptian campaign The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests, to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the pr ...
which Napoleon himself had already abandoned, and he was captured by enemy forces in Naples and thrown in a dungeon for two years. By the time he was released, Napoleon had risen to power and reinstated racism and slavery in France and its colonies, leaving Dumas with few recourses. The debilitation from Dumas's long imprisonment led to his early death, but his life inspired his son Alexandre Dumas to write books such as '' The Count of Monte Cristo'' and ''
The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight ...
''. The ''
Christian Science Monitor Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
'' called the book a "remarkable and almost compulsively researched account" and stated that "the author spent a decade on the case, and it shows." "To tell this tale", wrote ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
''. "Reiss must cover the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the rise of Napoleon toward Empire; he does all that with remarkable verve." ''The Black Count'' appeared on multiple "best of" lists since its publication in September 2012. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' named it one of the 100 most notable books of 2012, and ''
TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' included it in their list of Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2012.
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...
chose it as one of the "10 Best Books of 2012" in the "Biographies and Memoirs" category. The book was chosen by
BBC4 BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002
as the "
Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a BBC Radio 4 series that is broadcast daily on week days. Each week, extracts from the selected book, usually a non-fiction work, are read over five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning (9:45a ...
" in November 2012 and was broadcast as a five-part radio series, and
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
listed it as one of the Best 5 Biographies of 2012. ''The Black Count'' was also a finalist for the
National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".NAACP Image Award for "Outstanding Literary Work, Biography/Autobiography".


References


External links

*
"The Vanishing Fascination of Truly Anonymous Authors"
in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reiss, Tom 1964 births Living people Hotchkiss School alumni American non-fiction writers Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners Jewish American writers The New Yorker people American male journalists Harvard College alumni The Harvard Crimson people Harvard Advocate alumni American male biographers 21st-century American Jews