Ghost Runners by Robert Rubenstein

The purpose of this meme is to share a book we have really enjoyed or loved reading, whether a recent one or whether we read it way back when. A book WE think you should perhaps add to your reading list. It’s fun, and I know there are loads of awesome books out there we are all missing out on.  Sharing is Caring!

Review of Ghost Runners, a novel.

"He was so close, he could smell them. He didn't want to hurt Hitler. Who would want to hurt Charlie Chaplin? He just wanted to give him a love tap from the Jewish nation." Joshua Sellers and Bobby Gillman have been given the chance of a lifetime. They have made the American Olympic team and are poised to run as Jewish-American athletes in front of Adolf Hitler . The place is Berlin; the time, 1936. An almost certain victory awaits the pair in the 4x100 meters relay. Joshua knows it will make a difference -a victory by Jewish athletes. But what happens to him when he is told on his twenty-first birthday by his own coaches that though he is fit and able, he cannot run in Germany? Racing with irony through the veins of inevitable, bitter, history, brimming with palpable life from the Coney Island shores to the cherry blossomed streets and cabarets of Berlin, Ghost Runners exposes the far-reaching menace of American Anti-Semitism. Whether on a local Berlin train, or at a lavish party at the Air Ministry, Joshua must test his courage against hard truths about the betrayal of an American Dream. Haunted by love for a heroic German-Jewish athlete he left behind, Joshua believes his fate is hers to share, despite the distance or the waning breath of dying memories. What happens to Joshua in the high Southwestern desert? History has passed him by, but wisdom may yet be seen in the hopeful eyes of disabled Native American children. An American always, the hope of the Jewish people becomes a universal anthem for him. A provocative first novel, twenty-five years in the writing, based on real events about the Eleventh Olympiad and the American athletes, Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, GHOST RUNNERS is historical fiction with an edge. It hopes to generate a dialogue that needs to be had in order to put that sorry chapter of American history to rest.

Amazon
GoodReads

***

About the Author

A Jewish Book Council, Book-of-Note author, Mr.Rubenstein's first novel was included in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum library. Companion pieces: Ghost Runners, historical fiction about two Jewish runners not allowed to compete in the 1936 Olympics, and The White Bridge, a parody about the transformation of a young woman in a time of eugenics, baby farms, Hitler, the Klan, and the culture of lynching.

Rob continues his inquiry to understand the hatred, the horror, and the heroics that were needed to defeat fascism here and abroad. He teaches advanced topics in psychology, the psychology of racism, at a local college. A former special educator in the New York Public Schools, Rob raised two children as a single parent. He still loves the southwest, especially Navajo country, and gets his feet wet on the Coney Island shore.

***

Why we liked this book!

Robert Rubenstein has made a smashing debut in historical fiction. Meticulously researched, passionately and imaginatively rendered, the reader is transported to the 1930's, a world in the throes of a growing madness. From Coney Island to Berlin, the stage is set for a story that has been largely neglected, perhaps because of the shame it casts on famous men and corporations. Two gifted young sprinters face an inhuman opponent, invisible yet powerful. This is a tale of betrayal, of racism and, ultimately, triumph. The emotions - anger, rage - are raw, palpable. Given the re-emergence of antisemitism around the world, this book could not have been more timely. The prose and punctuation falter in spots, as is the case with many first novels, but the overall package is wonderful. All Things That Matter Press has issued another important work.
All they wanted to do was run. 

Reviewed by Vic Fortezza

***

 SUBMIT YOUR LINK TO PARTICIPATE | - E-mail me at ssbookfanatics (at) gmail (dot) com for details - (Please visit the blogs who have joined in, and see which books they have shared .)