Genre
Most Recent Book Title
Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund
Book Description
"Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund" is the true story of an American Nazi movement of the 1930s, their popinjay womanizing leader, and the disparate confederation of characters that brought them to an end, including Walter Winchell, Fiorello LaGuardia and Thomas Dewey, Edward G. Robinson, members of HUAC, and Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and other Jewish mobsters. Additional personalities within the book falling as suspected Bund sympathizers include Henry Ford and Walt Disney. It is published by St. Martin's Press.
"Swastika Nation" has been praised by The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Publishers Weekly and other publications elsewhere, including Germany.
"Swastika Nation" has been praised by The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Publishers Weekly and other publications elsewhere, including Germany.
Additional Book Titles
Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing, 2009 University of Michigan Press
The Hoofs and Guns of the Storm: Chicago's Civil War Connections, 2003, Lake Claremont Press
The Movies Are: Carl Sandburg's Film Reviews and Essays, 1920-1927 (editor), 2001, Lake Claremont Press
Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100 Years of Chicago and the Movies, 1992, Lake Claremont Press; 2nd edition, 2013 Chicago Review Press
The Hoofs and Guns of the Storm: Chicago's Civil War Connections, 2003, Lake Claremont Press
The Movies Are: Carl Sandburg's Film Reviews and Essays, 1920-1927 (editor), 2001, Lake Claremont Press
Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100 Years of Chicago and the Movies, 1992, Lake Claremont Press; 2nd edition, 2013 Chicago Review Press
Website #1
Amazon Page
Location (city/state/country)
Chicago, IL
Author bio
Arnie Bernstein is a nonfiction writer based in Chicago. His latest work Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German American Bund, explores a pro-Nazi movement that swept the United States in the 1930s, and the disparate confederacy that brought this bunch to an inglorious end. Swastika Nation is now available from St. Martin's Press.
His award-winning 2009 book Bath Massacre: America’s First School Bombing, brought to light the forgotten story of a madman who detonated a rural Michigan school building on May 18, 1927, killing 38 children and six adults. Gregg Olsen, author of the New York Times best seller Starvation Heights praised the book, writing: “With the meticulous attention to detail of a historian and a storyteller's eye for human drama, Bernstein shines a beam of truth on a forgotten American tragedy. Heartbreaking and riveting.”
Bernstein is the author of three books on Chicago history, which earned praise from the late United States Senator Paul Simon (D-Illinois) and Roger Ebert. In his introduction to Bernstein’s book “The Movies Are: Carl Sandburg’s Film Reviews & Essays, Ebert wrote: “Arnie Bernstein has performed an extraordinary accomplishment in bringing this book into being….(He) adds great knowledge and insight…providing background, orientation, historical information, helpful footnotes. This is a book that reopens a chapter of journalism and history that might have remained closed forever.”
Bernstein has been interviewed by many media outlets, including The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Chicago Tribune, National Public Radio, PBS, radio programs in Australia, England, and Ireland, and many television, documentaries, radio shows, and podcasts. He was honored for his work by the the State Library of Michigan and the Illinois State Library; and won grants and awards from The Puffin Foundation and Warner Brothers Studios. Bernstein is a member of The Author’s Guild, PEN, The Chicago Writer's Association, and The Society of Midland Authors. He is represented by Leigh Feldman of Writers House, New York.
Speaking engagements include presentations at DePaul University, the University of Chicago, Columbia College-Chicago, and many others. He has given speeches and served on panel discussions at the Chicago History Museum, the Illinois State Library, the Gene Siskel Film Center, as well as numerous public and private libraries, bookstores and reading groups. He teaches writing at several Chicago area colleges.
His award-winning 2009 book Bath Massacre: America’s First School Bombing, brought to light the forgotten story of a madman who detonated a rural Michigan school building on May 18, 1927, killing 38 children and six adults. Gregg Olsen, author of the New York Times best seller Starvation Heights praised the book, writing: “With the meticulous attention to detail of a historian and a storyteller's eye for human drama, Bernstein shines a beam of truth on a forgotten American tragedy. Heartbreaking and riveting.”
Bernstein is the author of three books on Chicago history, which earned praise from the late United States Senator Paul Simon (D-Illinois) and Roger Ebert. In his introduction to Bernstein’s book “The Movies Are: Carl Sandburg’s Film Reviews & Essays, Ebert wrote: “Arnie Bernstein has performed an extraordinary accomplishment in bringing this book into being….(He) adds great knowledge and insight…providing background, orientation, historical information, helpful footnotes. This is a book that reopens a chapter of journalism and history that might have remained closed forever.”
Bernstein has been interviewed by many media outlets, including The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Chicago Tribune, National Public Radio, PBS, radio programs in Australia, England, and Ireland, and many television, documentaries, radio shows, and podcasts. He was honored for his work by the the State Library of Michigan and the Illinois State Library; and won grants and awards from The Puffin Foundation and Warner Brothers Studios. Bernstein is a member of The Author’s Guild, PEN, The Chicago Writer's Association, and The Society of Midland Authors. He is represented by Leigh Feldman of Writers House, New York.
Speaking engagements include presentations at DePaul University, the University of Chicago, Columbia College-Chicago, and many others. He has given speeches and served on panel discussions at the Chicago History Museum, the Illinois State Library, the Gene Siskel Film Center, as well as numerous public and private libraries, bookstores and reading groups. He teaches writing at several Chicago area colleges.
Professional Speaker Topics
Nazis in America
Chicago movies
Civil War in Chicago
Workshops and lectures to improve writing.
Chicago movies
Civil War in Chicago
Workshops and lectures to improve writing.
Favorite Quote or Personal Motto
“I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book.” Groucho Marx
