The Orientalist

Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life

By: Tom Reiss

Narrated by: Paul Michael

Part history, part cultural biography, and part literary mystery, The Orientalist traces the life of Lev Nussimbaum, a Jew who transformed himself into a Muslim prince and became a best-selling author in Nazi Germany.

Born in 1905 to a wealthy family in the oil-boom city of Baku at the edge of the czarist empire, Lev escaped the Russian Revolution in a camel caravan. He found refuge in Germany, where, writing under the names Essad Bey and Kurban Said, his remarkable books about Islam, desert adventures, and global revolution became celebrated across fascist Europe. His enduring masterpiece, Ali and Nino - a story of love across ethnic and religious boundaries, published on the eve of the Holocaust - is still in print today.

But Lev's life grew wilder than his wildest stories. He married an international heiress who had no idea of his true identity - until she divorced him in a tabloid scandal. His closest friend in New York, George Sylvester Viereck - also a friend of both Freud's and Einstein's - was arrested as the leading Nazi agent in the United States. Lev was invited to be Mussolini's official biographer - until the Fascists discovered his true identity. Under house arrest in the Amalfi cliff town of Positano, Lev wrote his last book - discovered in a half a dozen notebooks never before read by anyone - helped by a mysterious half-German salon hostess, an Algerian weapons smuggler, and the poet Ezra Pound.

Tom Reiss spent five years tracking down secret police records, love letters, diaries, and the deathbed notebooks. Beginning with a yearlong investigation for The New Yorker, he pursued Lev's story across 10 countries and found himself caught up in encounters as dramatic and surreal, and sometimes as heartbreaking, as his subject's life. Reiss' quest for the truth buffets him from one weird character to the next: from the last heir of the Ottoman throne to a rock opera-composing baroness in an Austrian castle to an aging starlet in a Hollywood bungalow full of cats and turtles.

As he tracks down the pieces of Lev Nussimbaum's deliberately obscured life, Reiss discovers a series of shadowy worlds - of European pan-Islamists, nihilist assassins, anti-Nazi book smugglers, Baku oil barons, Jewish Orientalists - that have also been forgotten. The result is a thoroughly unexpected depiction of the 20th century - of the origins of our ideas about race and religious self-definition, and of the roots of modern fanaticism and terrorism. Written with grace and infused with wonder, The Orientalist is an astonishing book.

©2005 Tom Reiss (P)2017 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A wondrous tale, beautifully told, that took the author five years and patient detective work in 10 countries to reconstruct...Mr. Reiss's quest takes him right through the looking glass [and] what a tale it is - mesmerizing, poignant and almost incredible. Mr. Reiss, caught up in the spell of Essad Bey, has turned around and worked some magic of his own." ( The New York Times)

"Thrilling, novelistic, and rich with the personal and political madness of early-20th-century Europe." ( Entertainment Weekly)

"Mr. Reiss's book fills the reader with admiration. Tracking a life across so many cultures and disguises, far-flung places and languages, he must have endured an odyssey comparable to his subject's.... The modern world had given up on [Lev Nussimbaum]. It had, as Mr. Reiss says, 'left him without an audience.' He has one now." ( The Wall Street Journal)

An amazing and gripping story

A documentary that feels like a novel with a very interesting inserts of history, that puts many historical facts on the right place and helps to understand what happened to the world and why.

Fascinating

On a personal level, this book made me look at my Jewish identity in a completely new way. I plan to listen to this one again.

Very worthwhile book

The author’s scholarship and thoroughness were impressive, and I learned much more than I expected to about the politics and mores of the era. The narration was also first-rate, which I did expect, having listened to his work on other titles. Thank you, Audible.
Judy L. Walker

There's a lot of amazing and unique information...

Occasionally felt like I was drinking history through a fire hose. Couldn't believe it's true.

A fantastic story

I had never heard about the novel "Ali & Nino", and never heard about its author. And yet, I devoured the entire tale. I loved the way Tom Reiss gave us the background on all the countries/places that Essad Bey/Nussimbaum visited and kept the tale going. I have forgotten how exactly I stumbled on this audio but I am sure glad I did.

Reiss is a wonderful writer. And the audio narration by Paul Michael was superb. Michael's German accent or Italian etc where necessary gave the narration the right touch.

Now, I am moving to the author's other book - The Black Count. If he could have wrung out so much material from a long-forgotten writer like Essad Bey, I am dying to see what he can do with the life of Dumas Sr.

The essential but mostly forgotten history leading up to the Russian and German revolutions of the 20th century

This is a dual story of a fascinating individual and how his life intersected with the tumultuous revolutionary era of the early 20th century. That era’s obsession with ethnicity and race is a cautionary tale for our own era of resurgent identity politics and tribalism

Intriguing Story

Tinged with melancholy, the larger than life story of lev nussembaum is vividly described by tom.

The author’s research and dogged determination to track down obscure details is admirable.

Read this after “The Black Count” another fascinating book by Tom Reiss about an enigmatic character traversing wild and exotic locations while the world descends into revolutionary chaos.

Fascinating biography of a sui generis character

This was a fun biography of what was for me a previously unknown historical figure. Lev Nussimbaum is like a real life Wes Anderson character. Nussimbaum s life was almost surreal, and it's fascinating to see how he navigated through many of the most important events and conflicts of the 20th century.

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

I accidentally purchased this book and am glad I did. Lev Nussimbaum was a much more prolific writer than I realized, especially since I was unaware of his pseudonyms until now. The history of the time was laid out in detail and filled a great many holes in my knowledge of that era. I listened for hours at a time and will listen to it again to deepen my understanding.

Horrible listening experience

For most of the book it just droned on and I had a hard time following it. It bounced around so much I never knew what time period or century it was in. I was interested in Lev but want up for listening to a history book. Would not recommend to anyone. Our entire book club panned it!