"Hustling Hitler" by Walter Shapiro
A well-researched and somewhat lengthy book by a former Carter White House
speechwriter about his great-uncle, a flashy vaudeville impresario with a checkered
life. Indicted, arrested for selling the Nazis a boatload of scrap metal dregs, he was
never extradicted from California. He sold diamonds, jade, stayed in the era's best
hotels, bounced a few checks, and tried to sell jewelry to Mae West. but that was
after early days promoting burlesque and marrying his star performer.
It's a slow read because of the precision with which it is written, Shapiro uses the
language beyond well. The only book I've read that compares in my mind is "FDR"
by Jean Edward Smith; they are both wordsmiths in any sense of the term.
There's a lot of US history here too, the small cities in New York, and the historical
tools available to research one's ancestors: census, news articles, family lore, and
just plain shoe leather. You can tell the author is absorbed and proud of his ancestors
and his own research, and it's a gift for him to take the time to write this story before
it is lost to history.
