Tom Reiss

Tom Reiss ( born May 5, 1964 in New York City ) is an American author, historian and journalist, who was known by several of his books internationally.

Major works

• Leader -Ex :; - Memoirs of a Former Neo - Nazi (1996, together with Ingo Hasselbach ) Three years earlier, the former neo-Nazi Ingo Hasselbach with The settlement had: A neo-Nazi gets out his report on the right scene and his exit from the same published. Hasselbach and Reiss developed a few years later the basis for the English version. Hasselbach was hiding at that time outside Germany to escape possible reprisals from his former environment.
• The Orientalist: In the footsteps of Essad Bey (2008 published in German ) - A biography of the eventful life of Lev Nussimbaum ( 1905-1942 ), who spent his childhood in the then rich and multicultural Baku, had to flee from the Russian Revolution, later lived in the turbulent Berlin of the Weimar Republic and there published under several names, thereby became a recognized expert on the Orient, then had to hide his Jewish origins from the Nazis, and eventually died in Italy. Reiss ' biography was an international bestseller and was published in more than 18 languages. It was included in the shortlist for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Literature in 2006.
• The black General: The Life of the true Count of Monte Cristo (2013 published in German ) - the biography of General Thomas Alexandre Dumas, father of Alexandre Dumas the Elder and grandfather of Alexandre Dumas the younger. Thomas Alexandre Dumas was born in the former French colony of Saint -Domingue, today's Haiti. He was the child of a French aristocrat and a slave of African descent; He spent his youth in the Paris of the ancien régime, and then made in the military of the revolutionary period and the beginning of the Napoleonic era career. Numerous episodes of his life were his son, the writer Alexandre Dumas, as an inspiration and have been processed The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers by him in his novels. For this work was Reiss et al 2013 Pulitzer Prize in the category of biography or autobiography awarded, and it appeared in numerous "best of " lists.

Curriculum vitae

Tom Reiss was born on May 5, 1964 in New York City. His family is Jewish; while his maternal grandparents were murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp, his mother was able to survive because it was hidden as a child in France. Reiss spent his early childhood, first in Manhattan and then in San Antonio and Dallas, Texas, where his father worked as a neurosurgeon in the Air Force. Then his family moved to Massachusetts and from there to New England. He attended the prestigious Hotchkiss prep school and Harvard College, where he worked as a journalist and editor for campus publications. In 1987 he received his degree. Reiss held various part-time jobs, which made him gain valuable experience as well.

1989 Tom Reiss traveled to Germany to research his family's history. He was fascinated by the so-called " turning point" and the events of this period, especially in East Germany. Reiss also dealt with the why neo-nazism and interviewed young neo-Nazis in order to better understand why they followed an ideology that had caused the death of many members of his family decades ago.

Bibliography (selection)

• The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, London 2012 German edition. The black General: The Life of the true Count of Monte Cristo, Munich, 2013, ISBN 3-423-28017-4.
• The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life, New York 2005 German edition. Orientalist: On the trail of Essad Bey, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 3-940-73105-6.
• Together with Ingo Hasselbach: leader -Ex: Memoirs of a Former Neo - Nazi, London 1996.

Reiss has also worked as a journalist for the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.