Of course, as is often the case, lives that took dangerous twists and turns are more or less shrouded in mystery, and perhaps one of the most fascinating ones is that of Lev Nussimbaum.
Thankfully though, Tom Reiss has taken it upon himself to retrace and chronicle the life of this enigmatic man across the many countries he visited and people he crossed in his book titled The Orientalist.
Who exactly was Lev Nussimbaum? His story begins in rather complex conditions and he gets thrown to the wolves, being forced to escape the Russian revolution aboard a camel caravan with little more than what he had on his back. That decision led him on a life during which he more than likely took on multiple identities, though in the end re-inventing himself as Esad Bay, effectively making the transformation into a Muslim prince.
It can be said that the more surprising part about that. He is believed to be the author of the eternally and internationally-popular "Ali and Nino", and has also written biographies of Nicholas II and Stalin, as well as a review of the Azerbaijani oil industry.
His wife claimed to have had no idea as to who he truly was, and his adventures took him through nearly a dozen countries, escaping death, persecution, and one revolution after the next like very few others ever could.
In the end, having lived a truly worthy and memorable roller-coaster of a life, he died of natural causes, effectively gaining the upper hand not only on the people who were out to get him, but also over fate itself, some might say.
It has to be said that Tom Reiss was perhaps one of the best possible authors to tackle on this subject. His style of writing is rather fluid and exciting, at least in the sense that he knows how to keep the reader entertained without overwhelming them from any direction.
The story unfolds at a regular pace and gives you time to digest what you're reading. As far as the author can, he describes the people and events unfolding with great detail without getting too bogged down on the small stuff.
He manages to make the life of Lev Nussimbaum and all the mystery and bizarreness that comes with it very palpable. In other words, it really feels as if you are reading a book about some kind of ultimate James Bond character, one that actually existed, however.
As far as the accuracy and the veracity of the information is concerned, there is no going around the fact that much of Lev Nussimbaum's life was, is and will forever remain shrouded in a dark cloak of mystery; there is simply nothing or nobody left to testify about certain periods of his life, a fate that will befall us all eventually.
In conclusion, if you are interested in reading an exciting story about a real-life enigmatic master of adaptation and survival, one that will both move you and yield some sort of knowledge, then I definitely suggest you give it a shot.
 | Tom ReissPersonal site Tom Reiss is an American historian, journalist and author whose latest nonfiction book, The Black Count, has earned him the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. His other works include Fuhrer-Ex, delving inside the neo-Nazi movement happening in Europe, and The Orientalist, which examines the life of Russian Jewish-born Lev Nussimbaum. |
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