A thrilling page-turner of epic proportions, Tom Reiss's panoramic bestseller tells the true story of a Jew who transformed himself into a Muslim prince in Nazi Germany. Lev Nussimbaum escaped the Russian Revolution in a camel caravan and, as "Essad Bey," became a celebrated author with the enduring novel Ali and Nino as well as an adventurer, a real-life Indiana Jones with a fatal secret. Reiss pursued Lev's story across ten countries and found himself caught up in encounters as dramatic and surreal-and sometimes as heartbreaking-as his subject's life.

First published in English in 1931, this tale conjures a vast panorama of the Caucasus, its people, and customs. The result is a fresh and densely atmospheric work, even if not always laying claim to scientific accuracy.

In this lively and witty autobiography, Essad Bey, a.k.a. Lev Nussimbaum, tells 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 and finally to Berlin.