A memoir about different kinds of hard luck. The author, who has just lost his job, tries to make money by translating Russian, then helping an old woman who claims to have lost millions, then working as an attendant. "Quads" presents the special world of quadriplegics he encountered, "Old Woman" details the plight of the dispossessed old crone, "Polyglottos" concerns a Russian dissident (Lev Kopelev) and the difficulties of translating him for three cents a word.
Son of a Washington DC zookeeper, I first studied zoology, then turned to Russian literature and history. My favorite authors and classical composers are Russian, German and Scandinavian. Favorite art is German Expressionism. I live in New Mexico and am married to a beautiful bellydancer.
My works include eight books translated from Russian, about thirty articles--including a large one on torture and intelligence--and a book on atomic espionage co-written with a KGB colonel. Most recent books are A DEATH IN WASHINGTON: WALTER G. KRIVITSKY AND THE STALIN TERROR (Enigma Books, 2004) and THE KRAVCHENKO CASE: ONE MAN'S WAR ON STALIN (Enigma Books, 2007). See my website for photos, translations and opinions:
http://home.earthlink.net/~gwkern/
At present I am collecting materials for a book on torture, and for another on the ultimate extinction of the wild tiger due to the demand for its body parts generated by so-called Traditional Chinese Medicine. The tiger is doomed, and this is a disaster for the world.
I have done over 30 book reviews on Amazon. See my review, for example, of Peter Altenberg, TELEGRAMS OF THE SOUL. Click my name there, and you'll see the other reviews.
I have one LISTMANIA: US Prisoner Abuse: Torture Films on DVD. You have to enter this exact title, because if you enter only "torture films" you'll get all the chain-saw and slasher movies. The torture of terrorist suspects is a crucial issue for the future of the United States, because if it becomes policy it removes all claim to American exceptionalism.
