Reviews for Muriel’s War

WWD Magazine, Aug. 22, 2011
“Also interesting is “Muriel’s War: An American Heiress in the Nazi Resistance” by Sheila Isenberg (Palgrave Macmillan). Muriel Gardiner was a brunette beauty who was the heiress to a Chicago meatpacking fortune, but, rather than become a socialite, she studied at Oxford and went to the University of Vienna medical school…” Read full review here

The Jerusalum Post, April 28, 2011
“With Muriel’s War, Sheila Isenberg has performed an act of historic justice, at long last giving Muriel Gardiner the credit she deserves for her acts of courage and selflessness.”

The Boston Globe, Dec. 26, 2010
“Terrible times can elicit extraordinary deeds even from ordinary people, and Muriel Gardner was anything but ordinary … If some portion of Gardiner’s story sounds familiar, it’s because Lillian Hellman … hijacked it for her allegedly autobiographical account of the woman she called ‘Julia’ … [Muriel's War sets] the story straight about this intrepid American heroine.”

America in World War II Magazine, Oct. 1, 2010
“It is simplest to put it this way: privilege, exotic friendships, intellectual adventure, international intrigue, and danger marked the life story of American heiress Muriel Gardiner. But that doesn’t cover this woman’s contribution to the history of World War II, the magnetism that drew a fascinating string of lovers to her, nor her nerve in using her wealth to save countless lives from the rolling Nazi juggernaut in the 1930s and 40s. It seems like the stuff movies are made of. And in Gardiner’s case, maybe it was.”

Library Journal, Oct. 25, 2010
“Muriel Gardner was a beautiful, electrifying woman who mixed with high society, was a part of Sigmund Freud’s inner circle, and eventually joined the Austrian underground, where she helped thousands of Jews and anti-Fascists escape the Nazis. Her remarkable life story continued after the war with philanthropy and preservation of Freud’s memory.”

Kirkus Reviews, Nov. 11, 2010
“In many ways, Muriel Gardiner’s existence was the embodiment of the American dream … With a keen eye for detail, Isenberg explores Gardiner’s life and admirable sacrifices.”

 

San Diego Jewish World, Nov. 3, 2010
“The life of Muriel Gardiner … is truly heartwarming – the number of lives she saved, or at least had a hand in saving, was incredibly great. And the saga of her long, adventurous life makes thoroughly fascinating reading … Biographer Sheila Isenberg delves quite deeply into Muriel’s personality, drawing on Muriel’s own writings and the recollections of her wide circle of acquaintances … the narrative tells not only a detailed story of her life, but also adds greatly to our knowledge of life in Europe as events marched inexorably toward the catastrophe of World War II.”

Chicago Jewish Star, Jan. 28-Feb. 10, 2011
“A new biography Muriel’s War … is a story of courage and heroism. Chicago-born Muriel Gardiner was the daughter of a Protestant mother and a Jewish father, and heiress to a meatpacking fortune … [S]he went to Vienna and after Germany invaded Austria, she began to help Jews and others escape. It’s a fascinating story that deserves to be widely known.”

Library Journal
“Muriel Gardner was a beautiful, electrifying woman who mixed with high society, was a part of Sigmund Freud’s inner circle, and eventually joined the Austrian underground, where she helped thousands of Jews and anti-Fascists escape the Nazis. Her remarkable life story continued after the war with philanthropy and preservation of Freud’s memory.”

###

Reviews for A Hero Of Our Own

New York Times Book Review
“Varian Fry was the American Schindler. He even had a list. Sheila Isenberg’s book A HERO OF OUR OWN helps rescue Fry from obscurity. And with its stories of desperate exiles, menacing Nazis, forged documents and midnight escapes through the mountains, it reads at times like the script for some old Hollywood movie. Think Warner Brothers in the 1940′s. Think CASABLANCA (even down to the transit visas for Portugal). All that’s missing is Peter Lorre.”

Washington Post Book World
“Now that America has been shocked into a new appreciation of heroism, the story of the late Varian Fry is especially timely. Sheila Isenberg devotes most of the book to the specifics of Fry’s action-packed months in Marseilles, when he ferried numerous Jews (Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Andre Breton, and Hannah Arendt, to name a few) out of occupied France. This is where Isenberg starts to explore new terrain: Tales of survivors and saviors are familiar to us, but Fry was both. And he was American.”

The Roanoke Times
“Sheila Isenberg has written a masterful biography of this most enigmatic man. She pulls no punches in exhibiting his flaws, but shows no restraint in praising his virtues … [Fry's life] is truly unique and compelling, and Isenberg tells it with considerable compassion. The book is well worth the attention of anyone interested in reading about a most unlikely 20th-century hero.”

Booklist
“Varian Fry, the only American honored at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, played a crucial role in rescuing more than 1,000 European refugees from the Nazis. This highly readable biography tells the exciting escape stories of the underground railroad he organized. Isenberg sets the rescue story against the background of American isolationism and anti-Semitism at the time, documenting her dramatic narrative with more than 70 pages of fascinating notes. A must for WWII collections.”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“One of the BEST BOOKS of 2001. This little book is a life of a saint equal to any medieval tome.”

The Free-Lance Star, Fredericksburg, Va. (Feb. 10, 2002)
“A HERO OF OUR OWN comes at a time when we need to remind ourselves of the high price of sticking one’s neck out for others. Isenberg’s work is a painstakingly documented book that presents human nature at its best and worst. In this dark work, she portrays Fry as a flawed but dedicated idealist.”

JewishPress.com
This is one more time when you have to say: ‘Read the book!’[A Hero of Our Own] records one adventure after another. From almost the moment that Varian Fry landed in Marseilles, in occupied Vichy, France, with basically no prior training or experience in emigration matters, he engineered the work of a dedicated staff that not only directly assisted the escape and emigration efforts of many survivors, but also documented the nefarious activities of Nazis and their sympathizers. Some day soon, another Hollywood scriptwriter may prepare this story once more for a movie or theatrical presentation, but as I said, one can obtain quite a thrill by reading this book.”

Publisher’s Weekly Interview
“Given the new gravity of public discourse, it may be a propitious time for the book. Isenberg finds an analogy between the isolationist spirit during Fry’s days ‘and the insular period we went through’ before September 11. Beyond that, Fry’s heroism has its own power. Some call him the ‘American Schindler’ and, indeed, Isenberg finds an explanation proffered by Oskar Schindler’s surprising heroism applicable to Fry: only a ‘divine inspiration’ could explain how such a man could draw so deeply on his principles, creativity, courage and tenacity to stem the tide of history.”

Taconic Times
“You’ll want to read Sheila Isenberg’s riveting biography of Varian Fry, A Hero of Our Own. It is the flashback to Fry’s early life that gave this reader the clearest insight not only into the man but into the times he lived in. He was a man who ‘chafed at the world,’ a rebel against authority [and] a hero abroad. He died in 1967, an ordinary person who had done extraordinary things just once in his life. There are 16 pages of photos [and] interviews with survivors, letters and records.”