Identity

The Orientalist
Tom Reiss; © 2005
Non-Fiction; 464pgs

This book is utterly fantastic in the original sense of the word. Upon scanning the book jacket, I was in disbelief that the array of events described could have happened. More so than that, I couldn't conceive that these things not only happened, but the protagonist, Lev Nussimbaum, was such an unknown quantity in the popular annals of history.

Born in Baku at the turn of the 20th century, Lev came of age in a time of upheaval, albeit one lined with oil riches. He lived through the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, escaped the deserts of Central Asia, doubled back through Azerbaijan and on to Turkey before emigrating to Europe.

Enamored with the allure of the dead Ottoman Empire, Lev transforms himself into a Muslim prince, Essad Bey, and eventually becomes a European literary sensation in mid-war Berlin. Author of best-selling non-fiction books, Lev's connection in this post-war era ran from Vladimir Nabakov to arms smugglers and Ezra Pound. As Nazism rise took hold, Lev's intricate facade crumbles around him.

This book is a tantalizing account of the first half of the 20th Century. More than that, however, it relates the compelling story of an enigmatic and appealing man struggling to find his place in a turbulent world after his own idyll was shattered in his youth.

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