Bøger af Brian Josepher

Who was the real Elie Wiesel? The historical record, as developed by historians, biographers, journalists, activists, theologians and philosophers, portrays him as a righteous man. A Tzaddik, in Jewish traditions. A fascinating dynamic helps to explain the rendering. Wiesel always served as the central source. His version of his story, as he alone laid it out, absolutely dominated. Critical appraisal was nonexistent. Big questions endured. How really did a Hasidic Jew from small town Transylvania become the docent of Auschwitz? How did a yeshiva bocher, or a religious student, transform into a Nobel Peace Prize laureate? This project tracks those developments. After a decade of independent research, a new Elie Wiesel emerges. The Wiesel of lore - modest, somber, passive, shy - becomes a far more cagey, hungry, political force. One word guides his direction. Ambitious. In the Wiesel-controlled narrative, ambition was as ugly as crematoria chimneys. In these pages, ambition forms the fundamental foundation. The Wiesel of lore - a coward survivor - becomes a rough elbower. The Gospel According to Elie Wiesel is a first of its kind. A rigorously researched, deeply penetrating, absorbing and thoughtful deconstruction of a man and his tales. At its heart, this biography wanders into some important terrain. Where does the persona end and the true Elie Wiesel begin?

The Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Another Holocaust survivor named Pfefferkorn. The author of the Gospel According to Mark. The ministry of Jesus Christ. The 1st century historian Josephus. Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. An obscure writer named Brian Josepher. Their stories, and others, intersect in this chronicle spanning 2,000 years. Part historical text, part fictional story - or what the author calls a faux history - this story begins when the author Brian Josepher publishes a critical biography on Elie Wiesel. The "unauthorized" nature of the book, the controversy, exposing the legend behind the man, leads to a kind of stardom. The book becomes a cultural event and heavy sales for the author follow. Something else follows. Death threats. The author goes into hiding. He chooses Jerusalem. There, he discovers a lost manuscript after doing some digging in the cemetery on the Mount of Olives. That manuscript, originally published in the immediate aftermath of the Book of Mark, greatly influenced the New Testament. It called into question the motivations of the evangelist named Mark. It exposed the legend behind the prophet Jesus Christ. But that manuscript also shined a light on its own author. Who really was Josephus and how did he stoke his own legend at the expense of the man? This faux history then unearths histories both large and small. It's aim, to find some truth in the incredible complexity that is history, follows a circuitous route: from Brooklyn to Austria to Jerusalem to Nazareth, from Elie Wiesel to Auschwitz to The Holocaust, from Mark to Jesus to Josephus, from Josephus to Joseph to Josepher. Oh, and there's a bicycle ride made through Galilee and old Phoenicia, known as the Tour de Josephus. On these pages, discoveries are everywhere.