Biography
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT A CHILD OF CHRISTIAN BLOOD
November 13, 2013
"Good Morning America writer/producer Levin makes a century-old murder case come to life in a suspenseful true-crime thriller that had broad implications at the time. . . . [His] stellar re-creation of the personalities and events places them into the context of Russia during the last years of the tsar, and makes good use of records unavailable before the fall of the Soviet Union."
—Publishers Weekly
"A page-turning history/true-crime story ... his easy narrative style makes the book read like a novel."
—Kirkus Reviews
"A simply outstanding, totally gripping book, elegantly narrated, deeply researched, and impossible to put down. It is a rare delight both as a brilliant history and a suspenseful whodunit that also refreshes a neglected though infamous story of terrible injustice that we should all know about: the Beilis blood libel—the Tsarist Russian version of the Dreyfus case."
—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Young Stalin and Jerusalem: The Biography
"Long before O. J. Simpson and Amanda Knox, Mendel Beilis was the most famous defendant of his time—the last Jew ever to be tried for blood libel. Edmund Levin brings the bizarre episode to life with passion and precision. It's a fascinating and cautionary tale, beautifully told."
—George Stephanopoulos
"Levin does a lovely job of bringing alive the Beilis Affair in all its messiness. The portraits of the main players are engrossing. The research is solid. The writing is elegant."
—Robert Weinberg, Professor of History, Swarthmore College
Author of Blood Libel in Late Imperial Russia: The Ritual Murder Trial of Mendel Beilis
Levin's book is beautifully written and impressive in its scholarship, especially the use of archival materials that only recently have become available. I have rarely read a book of serious history with greater admiration and fascination.
—Albert S. Lindemann
Professor of History, emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara
Author of The Jew Accused: Three Anti-Semitic Affairs: Dreyfus, Beilis, Frank