Synopses & Reviews
The journey that takes Mark Jacobson around the world began when a friend bought a lamp at a rummage sale and was told that it was made from the skins of Jews. While he didn't believe the story, he sent it to Mark, saying, "You're a journalist, you figure out what it is."
After three years of research in America, Poland, Germany, and Israel, and with the assistance of forensic experts, DNA analysis, and consultations with Yad Yashem and the historical director at Buchenwald, Jacobson has investigated not only the truth of the thing itself but of the idea of it. He also analyzes our understanding of history; of myths, facts, and evidence; and of the concept of evil.
Despite extensive historical reporting of items made of human skin in eyewitness accounts from Nazi concentration camps, this is the first known discovery and investigation of such an artifact.
Review
"Provocative.... A well-executed, original reflection on how social evil tends to endure, puzzle and resist efforts at redemption." ---Kirkus
Synopsis
Journalist Mark Jacobson tells the true story of his historical, moral, and philosophical journey of discovery after a friend finds a lampshade made of human skin in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
About the Author
Mark Jacobson, a contributing editor at New York Magazine, is a frequent contributor to the Village Voice, National Geographic, Natural History, Men's Journal, Esquire, and other publications. His New York article "The Return of Super-Fly," a profile of heroin kingpin Frank Lucas, was the basis for Ridley Scott's recent film American Gangster. Mark is the author of 12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time, Teenage Hipster in the Modern World, Gojiro, and Everyone and No One. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Johnny Heller has won two prestigious Audie Awards and has earned numerous Audie nominations. He has been praised for his adult, personal development, history, comedy, and children's book narrations. Named a Best Voice of 2008 and 2009, as well as one of the Top 50 Narrators of the Twentieth Century by AudioFile magazine, Johnny has earned almost twenty Golden Earphones Awards. Two of Johnny's audiobooks have been picked by AudioFile as Best Audiobook the Year, and he has won two Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Awards.