Tag: Book & Author

Harry Lenga was born to a family of Chassidic Jews in Kozhnitz, Poland, in 1919. The proud sons of a watchmaker, Harry and his two brothers, Mailekh and Moishe, studied their father’s trade at an early age. Upon the German invasion of Poland, when the Lenga family was upended, Harry and his brothers never imagined… Read More

Join us in discussion with #1 New York Times bestselling author Tom Clavin as he makes his literary return to the aerial battlefields of WWII to tell a harrowing and unforgettable story of heroism and human endurance in his latest book, Lightning Down: A World War II Story of Survival. Based on a true and… Read More

Join us for a live virtual discussion with Philippe Sands, author of The Ratline. Based on Sands’ successful BBC Radio Podcast, The Ratline delves into the life and mysterious death of Otto von Wächter – a devoted Nazi turned man on the run.  Sands and his colleagues uncovered key details about Wächter’s life and family… Read More

In And Still We Rise: A Novel about the Genocide in Bosnia, author Jordan Sher chronicles one family’s journey from the concentration camps of Prijedor, Bosnia in 1992, to their eventual resettlement in the U.S. After years of interviewing survivors, Sher relied on his findings to craft an inspiring story about those looking for balance… Read More

Join the Women’s Leadership Committee in conversation with Deerfield resident and author Lisa Barr at the Chicago premiere of her multi-award-winning novel, Woman On Fire, a gripping story about a young, ambitious journalist who becomes embroiled in an international art scandal centered around a Nazi-looted masterpiece. The book was recently named as part of Katie Couric’s 2022 Reading Guide. Lisa,… Read More

Join us for a live virtual discussion with Dan Grunfeld, former two-time Academic All American as a member of Stanford University’s men’s basketball team and 8-year professional basketball player, as he presents his debut novel, By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream.   The novel shares the story of… Read More

As the Nazis closed in on Central Europe in 1939, Alfred Berger mailed a desperate letter to an American stranger who happened to share his last name. He begged the American recipient of the letter: “You are surely informed about the situation of all Jews in Central Europe… By pure chance I got your address…… Read More

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author Jonathan Kaufman’s The Last Kings of Shanghai chronicles the fascinating tale of two rival Sephardic Jewish families from Baghdad, the Sassoons and Kadoories, that dominated the business, political, and cultural scene in Asia for the first half of the twentieth century. The book highlights what is perhaps the families’ most impressive achievement: the funding and saving of… Read More

In Meredith Talusan’s (she/they) reflective coming-of-age memoir, Fairest, readers get a poignant look inside the mind and heart of an accomplished LGBTQ+ journalist and author. Talusan, the first trans staff writer at Buzzfeed, the first trans person to hold an executive position at Condé Nast, the founding executive of Them, and the recipient of numerous journalism awards, takes us to the… Read More

Chicago’s James “Bud” Wilschke was just 23 years old when he was shot down over coastal France in 1943. Struggling with his parachute, Wilschke and his fellow airman Robert Neil jumped out of desperation, not knowing they would land directly into Nazi-occupied France.   After landing safely, he woke up to a farmer pointing a shotgun… Read More