Blood and Oil in the Orient
My childhood in Baku and my hair-raising escape through the Caucasus
Published on 4. March 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
266 pages
978-3-929345-36-0 (ISBN)
Description
An Autobiography like Something Out of the Arabian Nights
In this lively and witty autobiography, Essad Bey, a.k.a. Lev Nussimbaum, tells us the story of his childhood in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and of his flight from the Russian Revolution in 1917, which brought him first straight through the Caucasus, then to Istanbul - where this book concludes - and finally to Berlin.
When Essad Bey speaks of the people of the Caucasus and their customs so strange to us, a sort of anthropological cabinet of curiosities unfolds before our eyes, and we cannot help but be astonished. All the while, through his affectionate and sometimes openly ironic words, even the excesses of the Revolution sound like children's pranks and his hair-raising escape like an adventure novel.
Blood and Oil in the Orient is an informative and entertaining book; in the 1930s, it was a bestseller in the U.S. and Germany.
In this lively and witty autobiography, Essad Bey, a.k.a. Lev Nussimbaum, tells us the story of his childhood in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and of his flight from the Russian Revolution in 1917, which brought him first straight through the Caucasus, then to Istanbul - where this book concludes - and finally to Berlin.
When Essad Bey speaks of the people of the Caucasus and their customs so strange to us, a sort of anthropological cabinet of curiosities unfolds before our eyes, and we cannot help but be astonished. All the while, through his affectionate and sometimes openly ironic words, even the excesses of the Revolution sound like children's pranks and his hair-raising escape like an adventure novel.
Blood and Oil in the Orient is an informative and entertaining book; in the 1930s, it was a bestseller in the U.S. and Germany.
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Essad Bey was born in 1905 as Lev Nussimbaum, his birth was registered in Kiev. He grew up in Baku. His father gained his wealth in the oil business. When the Russian Revolution broke out, both fled their home country and arrived 1921 in Berlin. Lev converted to Islam in 1922 and assumed the name Essad Bey. Before he died in Italy in 1942 at the age of 36 years, he'd written 16 books, among with are two novels under the pseudonym of Kurban Said, "Ali and Nino" and "The Girl from the Golden Horn". He also wrote countless articles for newspapers and many adventure stories for magazines.0000000117358250
ISNI:
Essad Bey was born in 1905 as Lev Nussimbaum, his birth was registered in Kiev. He grew up in Baku. His father gained his wealth in the oil business. When the Russian Revolution broke out, both fled their home country and arrived 1921 in Berlin. Lev converted to Islam in 1922 and assumed the name Essad Bey. Before he died in Italy in 1942 at the age of 36 years, he'd written 16 books, among with are two novels under the pseudonym of Kurban Said, "Ali and Nino" and "The Girl from the Golden Horn". He also wrote countless articles for newspapers and many adventure stories for magazines.0000000117358250
ISNI:
Afterword