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MY TRIP TO MITTE (BERLIN)
Last October, I had the honor of being invited to participate in the 2022 Berlin Mitte Festival. Experts in History, Urban Planning, and related disciplines gathered — and delivered public presentations — towards giving meaningful shape to further modern development of the very inner-most part of Berlin, the district known as Mitte. I spoke…
Read MoreMy view of Jeffrey Dahmer
A recent series on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is among Netflix’ most-watched programs ever. Actor Evan Peters, who plays Dahmer to chilling effect, won a Golden Globes award for his performance. We physicians by nature often eagerly study the sickest of people, because there is so much to be learned from their cases. In…
Read MoreRALPH BLUMENTHAL on THE BELIEVER
*** To read my review of The Believer, go here. *** Ralph Blumenthal’s latest book, The Believer, is about the controversial Harvard psychiatrist John E. Mack. What made Mack controversial? He gave more credence than would most psychiatrists to people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens. I found reading The Believer extremely rewarding, and recently…
Read MoreBOOK REVIEW: THE BELIEVER
For my interview with Ralph Blumenthal about The Believer, go here. *** Ralph Blumenthal’s The Believer – a lively read – draws a poignant profile of the highly accomplished if controversial Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John E. Mack. Mack had already published very well-regarded books in the field of psychiatry by the time he was made Head of…
Read MoreA Tribute at 16 Wallstrasse
Recently, I had the delightful surprise of receiving an email from Günter Voss, Director of the Senioren Computer Club in Berlin-Mitte. Mr. Voss has won recognition for his work in bringing older Berliners up-to-speed with digital literacy. His club meets on Berlin’s Fischerinsel (Fisher Island) in view of 16 Wallstrasse, the building Nazis stole from…
Read MoreDAVID MARWELL’S OUTSTANDING BOOK ON MENGELE
This post is about David G. Marwell’s brilliant book MENGELE: UNMASKING THE “ANGEL OF DEATH”, which you may view on Amazon here. *** Hailed by the New York Times as “a leading American investigator of Nazi war crimes,” Dr. David G. Marwell trained as an historian and then put his training to superb use outside the…
Read MoreAUTHOR’S CORNER: HOLLY-JANE RAHLENS
(Holly-Jane Rahlens. Photo credit; Heike Barndt) Holly-Jane Rahlens graduated from my alma mater, Forest Hills High School in Queens, but ran off to Berlin where literary stardom found her, so if you understand predetermination, you’ll know why the two of us had no choice but to do this blog interview. An enchanting excerpt from Holly-Jane’s…
Read MoreNOVELIST’S CORNER: BINNIE KIRSHENBAUM
Novelist and short-story writer Binnie Kirshenbaum is a two-time Critics’ Choice Award winner as well as being a Professor at Columbia University School of the Arts. Her keenly-anticipated and now widely-acclaimed novel RABBITS FOR FOOD portrays a writer named Bunny recovering from a breakdown. In her Boston Globe review of RABBITS FOR FOOD, novelist…
Read MoreGERMAN-JEWISH NOVELIST MIRNA FUNK
The German-Jewish author Mirna Funk was born in 1981 in East Berlin. These days, she splits her time between Berlin and Tel Aviv. Her first novel, WINTERNÄHE (pronounced Vinter-NAY-eh) has been critically acclaimed; it won the Uwe Johnson Literary Prize for 2015. Mirna also writes, among other things, a delightful column on Jewish life for German Vogue…
Read MoreINTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR DEBORAH LIPSTADT
Author and educator Deborah Lipstadt counts among the contemporary public intellectuals I most admire. She is widely-known for her victory in a libel suit filed by Holocaust denier David Irving. Her superb book about that experience, HISTORY ON TRIAL: MY DAY IN COURT WITH A HOLOCAUST DENIER is the basis for the film DENIAL in which…
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