The American Way: A True Story of Nazi Escape, Superman, and Marilyn Monroe

By Bonnie Siegler, Helene Stapinski, Jane Wong, et al.

Book Overview

In this "necessary and beautifully told story of struggle, compassion and serendipity" (Forbes), the publisher of DC Comics comes to the rescue of a family trying to flee Nazi Berlin, their lives linking up with a dazzling cast of 20th-century icons, all eagerly pursuing the American Dream.

Family lore had it that Bonnie Siegler's grandfather crossed paths in Midtown Manhattan late one night in 1954 with Marilyn Monroe, her white dress flying up around her as she filmed a scene for The Seven Year Itch. An amateur filmmaker, Jules Schulback had his home movie camera with him, capturing what would become the only surviving footage of that legendary night. Bonnie wasn't sure she quite believed her grandfather's story...until, cleaning out his apartment, she found the film reel. The discovery would prompt her to investigate all of her grandfather's seemingly tall tales--and lead her in pursuit of a remarkable piece of forgotten history that reads like fiction but is all true.

A "fast-moving American epic with a cast of refugees and starlets, publishers and bootleggers, comic-book creators and sports legends" (The Washington Post), The American Way follows two very different men--Jules Schulback and his unlikely benefactor, DC Comics publisher (and sometimes pornographer) Harry Donenfeld--on an exuberant true-life adventure linking glamorous old Hollywood, the birth of the comic book, and one family's experiences during the Holocaust. It's an "amazing" story told "with grace, verve, and compassion" (The Jerusalem Post) of two strivers living through an extraordinary moment in American history, their lives intersecting with a glittering array of stars in a "colorful" and "punchy" (The New York Times Book Review) tale of hope and reinvention, of daring escapes and fake identities, of big dreams and the magic of movies, and what it means to be a real-life Superman.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1982171669
• ISBN13: 9781982171667
• Release Date: February 2023
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.5" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A real life adventure criss crossing a panorama of the 20th Century

A page turner that you turns into a fast paced movie in your head as you read. The whole book reads like those special newspaper articles that grab you and you have to go deep and read it all the way to the end, and then it sticks in your head and becomes a part of what you know. The book is filled with real life hero's, rogues and villains. The core story (of many) is a man's escape with his family on the day before the Nazi purge of jews on Kristallnacht. He's clever and lucky, outwitting Nazi's and pulling off a near impossible escape. There's dozens of other interwoven stories, and all of them are compelling and filled with surprising details. The whole book adds up in a surprising way in your head, and the title comes into focus when you realize just how American all of these different ways are.