When a Dean With Jewish Roots, Paul Warren, Walks Into a Jesuit University: A Memoir of Prejudice, Politics, and Unexpected Grace

NY Weekly Staff on January 15, 2026

Paul Warren never expected that accepting a deanship at the University of San Francisco would force him to confront ghosts he’d been carrying since childhood. But sometimes the most profound personal growth happens in the least expected places, like a Catholic, Jesuit institution on the opposite coast from everything he knew.

For thirteen years, from 1989 to 2001, Warren served as Dean of the School of Education at University of San Francisco, meticulously documenting over six hundred anecdotes that would eventually become his memoir, University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University. What emerges from these pages isn’t just another academic chronicle. It’s a profoundly human story about confronting our own prejudices and discovering connection across cultural divides.

The Weight of History

Warren arrived at USF carrying invisible baggage. Growing up in Greenwich Village in a liberal theatre family during the 1940s and ’50s, his childhood was relatively isolated from Catholics. His mother was an actress, his father an arts-appreciative dentist, and their world revolved around the progressive politics and social justice themes that permeated Village life. Then came the McCarthy era, when the Catholic Church’s support of Senator Joseph McCarthy inflicted real pain on his family and their friends in the arts, people whose livelihoods were threatened by blacklists and whose reputations were destroyed by innuendo. These experiences left traces of prejudice that Warren didn’t fully recognize until decades later.

His path to USF wasn’t straightforward. After his father died when he was fifteen, Warren’s world transformed overnight. From a private progressive school, he transitioned to an overcrowded New York City public high school, then to Princeton (much to his mother’s dismay), and then to substitute teaching that evolved into full-time work at a Hell’s Kitchen high school with predominantly Black and Puerto Rican students. A PhD from NYU, work in Brooklyn’s Ocean Hill-Brownsville District, and eventually a position at Boston University shaped his understanding of education and social change.

After years as professor and administrator at Boston University, following 8 years as Dean of the School of Education appointed by John Silber the controversial University President John Silber, differences with the president signaled it was time to leave. That’s when the USF opportunity emerged.

A New World

The University of San Francisco proved to be something altogether different. The situations Warren encountered ranged from the absurd to the profound. Staff decoration of a Christmas tree with condoms, requiring delicate navigation of competing values. Conflicts between professors and staff members threatened to escalate. Labor-management battles erupted with regularity. A pig barbecue for Multicultural Services Day ended with fire trucks, smoke, and chaos when someone forgot to get a permit from the fire department.

Through it all, Warren kept his log, capturing not just the events but the emotions and human dimensions that official university histories tend to gloss over. As one memorable passage illustrates: “It was only one week later when Father’s reference to Deuteronomy as a reference for the wisdom he was to share outperformed my citation of the Halakah. The School’s mission statement and undergirding programs, I’m afraid, still promised – all things to all people. Without a clear definition and priorities, marketing was hampered. With little prospect of budget increases, we risked being placed in a Procrustean bed in which all programs would be equally short, equally long, and equally dead.”

The Transformation

What makes University Follies remarkable isn’t just Warren’s honest accounting of challenges particular to university leadership. It’s his willingness to examine his own transformation. Through close working and social relationships with members of the Jesuit Community, something unexpected happened: “the ghosts of Catholic prejudice thawed.”

Warren came to understand that universities are fundamentally human institutions. Both positive and negative characteristics of human behavior regularly surface. Idiosyncrasies aren’t bugs in the system; they’re features of any organization populated by real people. The Jesuit administrators and professors, through their behaviors and relationships with Warren, sometimes helped address the long-standing personal religious prejudices he brought with him.

The memoir captures this evolution honestly. One particularly moving moment occurs during the inauguration mass for Father President Steve Privett SJ. As priests in white robes processed down the center aisle of St. Ignatius Church carrying portraits of six Jesuit martyrs slain in El Salvador, Warren found himself swept up in the mystery and humanity of the Catholic Mass. “I, a child of Jewish and Episcopalian parents, brought up in a home that questioned the existence of God, once a young man in a family in which Catholicism took a beating, now found myself wrapped in the mystery and humanity of this Catholic Mass.”

The Boulder and the Hill

Warren doesn’t shy away from the frustrations. He repeatedly uses the metaphor of Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down. Faculty parking disputes derailed important program initiatives. A promising retreat in Marin County to discuss school reorganization descended into chaos as professors fought to protect their turf. His appointment of progressive educator Herb Kohl without a traditional doctorate sparked resistance from colleagues who saw it as a violation of protocol and union contract.

Yet there were victories too. A teacher named Nina, a slight white woman flourishing in a Bayview public school serving primarily poor Black students, demonstrated that good teaching transcends racial boundaries. Student Julia, bursting with enthusiasm for teaching, represented hope for urban schools. And in small moments, like rescuing a neglected goldfish named Birdy by convincing the staff assistant to buy a proper aquarium, Warren found evidence that his words could make a tangible difference.

A Legacy Documented in Real Time

When Warren retired and returned to Boston after thirteen years, he carried with him the words of the university provost’s farewell toast: “You have done irremediable good for the School and the University.” He wasn’t entirely confident in the validity of that assessment. But he was convinced of something more personal and perhaps more profound: his belief in the university as both a human institution and an academic one had been validated.

Published in 2024 after Warren retires from Vermont and nearly twenty-five years of university management experience, University Follies offers something increasingly rare: an honest, humorous, and ultimately hopeful account of overcoming prejudice through sustained human contact.

The California Bookwatch notes that the memoir “contains more than hindsight writing,” precisely because Warren was documenting events in real-time. This contemporaneous recording gives the book an immediacy and authenticity that retrospective memoirs often lack. We don’t just learn what happened. We experience what it felt like to navigate unfamiliar territory while confronting one’s own limitations.

As the Midwest Book Review concludes: “Readers interested in accounts of educational labor/management battles, dueling principles, the Jesuit ambience of the university Warren worked for, and the follies which emerged from the intersection of student, teacher and management concerns will find University Follies more than entertaining while it educates on challenges particular to university leadership.”

University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University is a book about universities, but more fundamentally, it’s a book about humans: our capacity for prejudice, our potential for growth, and our ability to find connection in the most unexpected places. Progress may be slow. The boulder may need to roll back down the hill many times. But with patience, openness, and a willingness to document the follies along the way, transformation is possible.

Read, Remember, Act

University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University offers far more than an insider’s view of academic politics. It’s a masterclass in navigating cultural differences, overcoming deep-seated biases, and finding common ground in the most unexpected places. Whether you’re connected to Jesuit education, fascinated by university life, interested in Jewish-Catholic relations, or simply love memoirs that combine humor with profound insight, Warren’s honest storytelling will resonate with you. With rave reviews from California Bookwatch and Midwest Book Review calling it “highly recommended” for its “lively story of ironic interactions and wry humor,” this is the university memoir you’ve never read before.

University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University is available now in eBook and Paperback, on Amazon, Book Baby, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and several other major digital platforms.

Joyful Resilience: A Journey of Loss, Love, and Autism Advocacy That Redefines Resilience

NY Weekly Staff on January 14, 2026

In Joyful Resilience, author and artist Agazit Negash steps into one emotionally demanding role any person can inherit: becoming the anchor of a family shattered by back-to-back tragedy while fighting to secure a life of dignity, support, and independence for her autistic brother, Biruk. Told through a blend of raw honesty, cultural history, humor, and relentless advocacy, the book reveals a story that is heartbreaking yet unexpectedly uplifting.

The narrative opens with an emotional blow that most readers will struggle to imagine. Twenty-five days after losing her father to Alzheimer’s, Agazit learns, while sitting in an airport, that her mother has also passed away. The grief is immediate and crushing. With no time to process the losses, she must pivot into crisis mode, stepping into a caretaker role for Biruk, who arrives off the plane without their mother and intuitively absorbs the shock written across their sister’s face.

What follows is a book that stretches far beyond a story of tragedy. It becomes a chronicle of love sharpened by responsibility and reshaped by the complex reality of neurodiversity. Biruk, a 33-year-old autistic adult, becomes both the source of her strength and the person who needs her the most. His innocence, his curious humor, and his ability to charm strangers into buying him chips and Coke offer readers moments of levity that soften the book’s heaviest moments.

Joyful Resilience: A Journey of Loss, Love, and Autism Advocacy That Redefines Resilience

Photo Courtesy: Agazit Negash

Yet Joyful Resilience is not just the story of a relationship. It becomes a window into the world of autism advocacy, community networks, and the bureaucratic gauntlet that caregivers must navigate. After returning to Washington, D.C., Agazit confronts the overwhelming weight of finding long-term support for Biruk: service providers, adult programs, specialists, caregivers, financial assistance, and organizations built for neurodivergent adults who need structured routines and reliable supervision. She enters this world not as an expert but as a determined sister who refuses to let her brother fall through a system that is notoriously uneven and complicated.

Her journey becomes an unexpected education. She builds relationships with autism networks, advocates, case managers, and behavioral therapists. She learns what resources exist, what gaps families must fill themselves, and how cultural misconceptions about autism shape everything from diagnosis to community acceptance. In this advocacy, readers see the book’s heartbeat: a woman discovering that caregiving is not an act of sacrifice, but an act of love built from purpose and unwavering loyalty.

Woven through Biruk’s story is another narrative just as compelling: the history of their mother, Rahawa, whose life unfolds across chapters that feel almost cinematic. From escaping an arranged marriage at fourteen to surviving a civil war and rebuilding her identity before immigrating to America, her story embodies courage, faith, and remarkable emotional intelligence. It becomes clear that the strength Agazit relies on, especially in the darkest moments, comes from her mother’s legacy of resilience.

As the memoir moves across Eritrea, Ethiopia, Seattle, and D.C., readers witness the intersections of family, culture, migration, and identity. The book highlights the emotional reality of caregiving: the guilt of physical distance, the pressure of constant decision-making, and the quiet triumphs that come from small breakthroughs. FaceTime calls with Biruk become anchors. Coordinating appointments becomes second nature. And through every hurdle, she remains determined to protect him, empower him, and ensure he is supported by a community rather than confined by his diagnosis.

The brilliance of Joyful Resilience lies in its ability to hold contradictions. The book is tragic but humorous, heartbreaking but hopeful, culturally grounded yet universally relatable. It is a testimony to sibling love, to the realities families face as they navigate neurodiversity, and to the ways humor and tenderness can coexist with grief.

Joyful Resilience: A Journey of Loss, Love, and Autism Advocacy That Redefines Resilience

Photo Courtesy: Agazit Negash

By the final chapter, readers walk away not only moved by the story but also inspired by its core message: resilience is not about avoiding suffering but about choosing to build purpose within it. And sometimes, as Agazit shows, the most powerful advocacy begins with the simplest act: loving someone enough to fight for their place in the world.

Meera Gandhi’s Three Tips for Peace in a World That Won’t Slow Down

NY Weekly Staff on January 13, 2026

By: Jeremy Murphy

At a moment when burnout, anxiety, and constant acceleration have become part of daily life, Meera Gandhi is offering something deliberately quieter and far more practical. Her book, Three Tips: The Essentials for Peace, Joy, and Success, is built not on lofty abstractions or spiritual jargon, but on lived experience, hard-earned lessons, and a belief that peace is not accidental; it is practiced.

Gandhi wrote the book after years of learning “how to take the long way home…” a Supertramp song from 1979. As she explains, she had made mistakes, hit roadblocks, and gathered wisdom she felt compelled to pass on, “in an easy, sort of non–preachy – but feel-good way.” The goal was never to lecture, but to offer guidance that people can actually use. “Sometimes when we find ourselves hitting problems,” she says, “then we need to take some time to dig deeper, do some soul-searching, and accept situations and move onto positive solutions.” That acceptance, she believes, is where clarity begins.

The structure of Three Tips is deceptively simple, and that’s its power. The book contains 52 chapters, one for each week of the year. Each chapter centers on a specific life theme and offers three concise, actionable tips. Readers are encouraged to slow down and meditate on just one set of ideas per week, allowing each lesson to integrate gradually rather than overwhelm. “If you meditate on one tip a week,” Gandhi says, “I think you can invite a lesson.”

The topics themselves span the full spectrum of modern life. There are chapters devoted to education, leadership, entrepreneurship, relationships, conflict resolution, balance, abundance, rebuilding, reconciliation, and personal growth. Rather than isolating spiritual wellness from professional ambition, Gandhi insists the two must coexist. One cannot thrive without the other.

Take her chapter on overcoming bias, one of the most resonant examples of the book’s tone. Gandhi doesn’t moralize; she reflects. She acknowledges her own misjudgments and how they backfired. Her three tips are direct: don’t prejudge; always be courteous and respectful, even when reservations exist; and look deeper, remembering that “the cover is not the book.” Celebrate differences, because they add texture and richness to our lives rather than detracting from them.

Another widely embraced section focuses on pacing ourselves through life, an urgent message in a culture addicted to speed. “Slow down,” she urges. “Just a little bit. Please breathe.” The second tip is to stay present, because the past no longer exists and the future is being shaped right now. The third is to consciously set your own pace. “After all,” she says, “we can only live one moment at a time, and that moment is ours.”

The book’s clarity was hard-won. Gandhi initially wrote a much longer manuscript and brought it to a publisher in India. The response was blunt. The editor liked her ideas and her honesty, but told her the book wasn’t publishable. “Come back to me when you have something I’m able to publish,” he said. It was humbling. But before she left, he offered one crucial piece of advice: back up what you preach with real-life anecdotes.

She took that advice seriously. Gandhi rewrote the book from the ground up, weaving in personal stories and reshaping the structure into the three-tips format. When she returned with the revised manuscript, the reception was entirely different. The publisher immediately recognized its clarity and warmth, and the book deal followed.

The deeper motivation behind Three Tips emerged during the pandemic. Gandhi witnessed friends, many outwardly successful, struggling behind closed doors. “We assumed that wealth would shield people from mental distress,” she says, “and it didn’t.” That realization shifted not only her writing but the direction of her philanthropic work toward mental wellness. “If we don’t have our mental health,” she says simply, “we don’t have anything.”

Gandhi is candid about her belief that America is facing a mental health crisis. Stress levels are at historic highs, social connection is eroding, and the pressure to constantly perform is relentless. Yet she also sees hope. Meditation is on the rise. People are redefining success. Some are turning away from corner offices rather than sacrificing their health. “People are waking up,” she says.

What Gandhi hopes readers take away from Three Tips is not perfection, but perspective. “If they can be even a little shifted,” she says, “sometimes that’s all it takes, to look at your situation differently and find hope.” In a world obsessed with more money, more speed, more achievement, her book offers something radical: enoughness, one week at a time.

Website: https://www.meeragandhi.com/

Craig Olson Launches Hitler’s Pianist, Roosevelt’s Secret

NY Weekly Staff on January 13, 2026

By: Ethan Lee

New book reveals a fascinating and lesser-known chapter of World War II history

Acclaimed author Craig Olson’s new book, Hitler’s Pianist, Roosevelt’s Secret, is a compelling work of narrative nonfiction that brings to light the astonishing, least-explored stories of the Second World War.

Olson, who is based in San Diego, CA, combines extensive archival research with narrative drive for a work that is by turns captivating and eye-opening.

Olson uncovers the extraordinary life of Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl, a man whose path carried him from elite American circles to Hitler’s inner circle and eventually into the service of President Franklin Roosevelt. The book explores a little-known story at the intersection of music, high society, espionage, and the extraordinary choices people make under totalitarian rule.

Olson brings a unique expertise to the subject. An entrepreneur and former SteelSeries executive, he is also a devoted student of twentieth century history. His master’s thesis on Hanfstaengl’s cooperation with Roosevelt between 1942 and 1944 laid the groundwork for this book. His research took him through archives and libraries across the United States and Germany, culminating in a series of personal interviews with Egon Hanfstaengl, Putzi’s only son. This informs the book’s rich detail and its nuanced exploration of moral ambiguity, political influence, and the complex ways individuals are shaped by the politics of their time.

“This is also a story about friendship where it was least expected, inside the music rooms and fashionable salons of early 20th century-Munich, where every note could be both beautiful and an unsettling harbinger,” said Olson. “I wrote this book to present an incredible and unlikely chapter of history about a pianist who was both a member of Hitler’s inner circle and a critical asset in Roosevelt’s clandestine campaign against the Nazis.”

Born in Bavaria in 1887 to a prominent German family with American roots, Hanfstaengl spent nearly two decades among the cultural and social elites of Harvard, Boston, and New York. Returning to a Germany in tumult, he became drawn to the rising figure of Adolf Hitler, whose charisma and ability to command a room captivated him. What followed was a chapter of history few readers may be familiar with. As Hitler’s personal pianist, informal adviser, and early liaison to the foreign press, Putzi occupied a curious and pivotal position at the intersection of culture, power, and propaganda.

Olson’s book relays this astonishing tale in a story that is both sweeping and intimate, examining the personal contradictions of a man both inside and outside the regime he helped promote. As Nazism escalated, Hanfstaengl increasingly found himself at odds with the radical ideology taking hold. His eventual exile during the early years of the Second World War would make him an unexpected asset to Franklin Roosevelt’s clandestine S Project, which aimed to psychologically undermine Hitler and weaken his influence over the German public.

With the book’s release, Olson has introduced a Virtual Version of himself, allowing anyone to call a dedicated number and ask any questions about the book, or schedule a meeting, a podcast appearance, or an interview directly with him or his digital counterpart. The virtual agent, speaking in Olson’s own voice in multiple languages, can answer questions about the book and provide an interactive experience for those who wish to delve deeper into this lesser-known extraordinary story, representing an unparalleled level of access to a new book.

With its combination of rigorous research and gripping storytelling, Olson provides a narrative that is as compelling as it is historically significant, bringing attention to a remarkable true story.

The book is now getting scores of positive reviews from readers, historians, and authors from across the USA and beyond.

“Olson’s new book is like a time machine as he takes readers on a unique history journey,” said Dr. Paul Fitzgerald (PhD), a widely known author, publicist, and columnist. Dr. Fitzgerald now writes columns that regularly appear on RollingStone.com through the Rolling Stone Culture Council. Rolling Stone Culture Council is the definitive network of senior executives and influential leaders selected for their accomplishments in art, food, beverage, sports, cannabis, gaming, television, entertainment, hospitality, theater, fashion, media, film, and music. Dr. Fitzgerald is also a columnist for Entrepreneur and The Toronto Tribune, and his work has also been featured in USA Today, CNN International Report, InventorSpot, and The Toronto Sun.

“I was fortunate to read an advanced copy of the book, and I could not put it down. Oslon’s new book, which just launched, is a powerful story and reveals a unique part of history unknown to most of us.”

Hitler’s Pianist, Roosevelt’s Secret is now available on a number of book websites, Amazon, Indigo, Waterstones, Bookscape, and Barnes & Noble.

Exploring the Divine Code: David Courtney’s Trinity, Infinity Divinity

NY Weekly Staff on January 13, 2026

By: Paul White

In a literary landscape crowded with surface-level spirituality, Trinity Infinity Divinity by David Courtney stands apart as a deeply personal and intellectually engaging exploration of faith, numbers, and divine order. Blending theology, numerology, mathematics, and biblical interpretation, Courtney’s book invites readers into a world where numbers are not simply symbols, but are proposed as potential sacred keys.

Originally conceived more than a decade ago and refined over years of study and contemplation, Trinity Infinity Divinity was officially released on Amazon on December 26, 2024. The book represents the culmination of Courtney’s long-standing interest in writing and his evolving journey into numerological theology.

At the heart of the book is a thought-provoking numerical framework. Courtney suggests a coded system in which numbers are interchangeable in specific triads and groupings: 1, 4, and 7; 2, 5, and 8; and 0, 3, 6, and 9. According to the author, these numerical relationships are not random and appear to form a hidden structure embedded across timekeeping systems, religious calendars, and sacred texts.

Through 29 chapters, Courtney explores how this numerical code may appear consistently across the ancient Hebrew calendar established by Hillel II, as well as the Gregorian, Julian, New Julian, Enochian, and both civil and sacred Hebrew calendars. Regardless of how a seven-day week is organized, he argues, the same numerical patterns seem to emerge. For Courtney, this consistency may suggest divine design rather than coincidence.

The book’s spiritual foundation is evident. Courtney attributes the origin of his insights to divine inspiration, expressing his belief that Jesus Christ guided him toward uncovering these patterns. Biblical references are woven throughout the text, particularly the recurring theme of light versus darkness. Rather than portraying them as simple opposites, Courtney explores them as mutually defining forces, each revealing the absence of the other.

One of the book’s central ideas revolves around the number 888, which Courtney describes as a symbolic gateway to understanding divinity. In Greek numerology, 888 is often associated with Jesus. Courtney extends this symbolism further, demonstrating how numerical calculations, letter values, and linguistic interpretation might align to reinforce his faith-based conclusions. For readers attuned to numerology, Kabbalah, or symbolic theology, these passages offer significant challenge and fascination.

David Courtney’s path to writing Trinity Infinity Divinity was anything but conventional. A writer, poet, and musician from a young age, he did not initially foresee authoring a numerology-focused theological work. His interest evolved after studying Kabbalistic texts such as The Universal Language of Cabalah by William Eisen and The Mystery Religions and the Seven Seals by David Lane. These works sparked an intense engagement with numbers that gradually reshaped his creative direction.

Courtney is candid about his process. He describes a tendency to obsess deeply over patterns and meanings, an intensity that permeates the book itself. This unfiltered honesty adds to the work’s authenticity. Trinity Infinity Divinity does not attempt to simplify its ideas for mass appeal; instead, it speaks directly to readers who are willing to engage with complex concepts and spiritual questions.

The author’s message is ultimately one of faith. Courtney hopes readers come away with a strengthened belief in God and an appreciation for how numerical order may reflect divine truth. For him, numbers are not simply abstract concepts but could be seen as evidence of sacred intention woven into reality itself.

While Trinity Infinity Divinity may appeal most strongly to readers interested in theology, numerology, Kabbalah, and metaphysical mathematics, it may also resonate with anyone drawn to unconventional perspectives on faith. It is a book born from conviction, persistence, and a desire to explore the unseen structures that might govern belief and time.

David Courtney continues to write and create, with future projects including poetry and music-focused works. For now, Trinity Infinity Divinity stands as his most ambitious and revealing publication to date.

Readers interested in learning more about David Courtney or connecting with him directly can find him online at www.facebook.com/geneticphrenetic or reach out via email at geneticfrenetic@yahoo.com.

FATALISM: A Millennium-Spanning Screenplay Exploring the Nature of Destiny

NY Weekly Staff on January 13, 2026

By: Lois R. Hernandez

What if the most crucial events of your life were not the result of free will, but the inevitable consequence of a secret hidden a thousand years ago? This is the gripping premise explored in FATALISM, the published screenplay from THREE DOGS PRODUCTIONS and the collaborative minds of Marcello Intraligi, Francesco Giampietro, and Wayne Shepherd. More than just a script, this is a masterclass in cinematic suspense, inviting readers to become both audience and detective in an epic narrative where the past is not merely prologue, it is destiny.

FATALISM is a story split across a millennium, opening with chilling intensity in Northern Europe, AD 1005. In a bleak, underground cavern, the elderly Father Timothy is subjected to brutal torture by the formidable Warlord Ahrman. The Warlord’s obsession is singular: extracting a secret the priest is sworn to keep, a dark and potent truth so dangerous it must be concealed for a thousand years. This desperate, violent confrontation sets the clock ticking on a monumental historical mystery, establishing a chilling sense of predestination that permeates every subsequent scene.

The narrative then executes a daring leap into the present day, shifting to the desolate, atmospheric ruins of King Galen’s Castle. Here, the story introduces its modern protagonists: Katrine, Nicholas, and Ronim. These three individuals appear to be undertaking a simple exploration, but fate has already sealed their roles in a story spanning centuries.

The play’s true core is revealed through the character of Katrine. Marked by a distinctive bird-wing birthmark, a visual motif that underscores the screenplay’s themes of flight and fate. She makes a monumental discovery. Unearthing a hidden canister, she recovers a single, exquisite gold ring. This is no ordinary trinket; it is the very artifact Father Timothy risked his life to hide in the year 1005.

The discovery of the ring acts as a historical fulcrum, wrenching the modern characters into the ancient conspiracy. The screenplay skillfully layers moments of profound grief, loss, and spiritual mystery as Katrine realizes her life, and the lives of those around her, are not accidental occurrences but the culmination of a millennium-old plan. The tension is palpable as the modern trio must now navigate the sinister forces that have been lying in wait since the Dark Ages, forces determined to exploit the secret the ring represents.

For readers, FATALISM provides a unique and engaging experience.

As a published screenplay, it provides an unvarnished view of the creative process, showcasing the economy of language, the precision of visual direction, and the sheer narrative architecture required for a high-stakes thriller. The meticulous attention to detail in each scene offers insight into the complexity of storytelling. Readers can appreciate the layers of tension and atmosphere that are carefully crafted, reflecting the collaborative efforts of its creators.

Enthusiasts of cinema will appreciate the script’s taut pacing and visual intensity. At the same time, lovers of literature will be drawn into the rich thematic exploration of free will, historical consequence, and the enduring power of sacrifice. The script balances moments of high drama with introspective depth, making it a compelling read for those who enjoy both visual storytelling and thought-provoking narratives. Its complex characters and layered themes create an immersive experience that resonates on multiple levels.

Ultimately, the play is a polished, compelling work that achieves a balance few narratives manage: it is both an exciting, time-traveling mystery and a thoughtful examination of what it means to choose your path when destiny insists on choosing for you. The seamless blending of past and present creates a narrative that challenges perceptions of time and fate. As the characters grapple with their roles in this grand scheme, the screenplay invites the audience to reflect on their own relationship with destiny and choice.

Coming to Africa: How Gbitee Doryen Gbitee Reframes the Birth of Liberia as a Transatlantic Human Story

NY Weekly Staff on January 12, 2026

History is often told in terms of institutions, policies, and dates. But the deeper truth of history always revolves around humans. It is shaped by people who make difficult choices in uncertain times and take steps that can alter the fate of multiple generations. In Coming to Africa: Historical Figures in the Founding of Liberia, Gbitee Doryen Gbitee invites readers to revisit one of the most complex chapters in Black Atlantic history through the human lens.

Gbitee takes a unique approach when talking about Liberia and its history. Rather than presenting its foundation as a political project or a colonial scheme, he stresses that it was a convergence of longings, fears, ideals, and contradictions carried by individuals. He effectively portrays the hopes of freed Black Americans who were seeking dignity and autonomy at a time of high politics and racial discrimination.

What makes Coming to Africa especially compelling is its insistence on complexity. Gbitee does not give in to the urge to write plainly about heroes and villains. Instead, he shows how the same movement could be seen as containing both emancipatory potential and coercive logic. The Back-to-Africa idea provided some Black Americans with a chance to imagine political self-rule for the first time, even as it emerged from a society unwilling to accept them as equals, where deep racial divides and systemic oppression shaped the context in which these ideas were born and spread.

Gbitee’s background as a former production and circulation manager of a leading newspaper in Liberia is evident in his writing. He has worked with editors in the newsroom to produce objective news articles. His goal was to strive for balanced and factual news stories. Currently, he is a history student and researcher, deeply committed to uncovering diverse perspectives and exploring untold narratives. As a result, he has used thorough and careful research techniques in his book to trace how merchants, missionaries, politicians, and African leaders became participants in a shared, if uneven, historical moment that shaped Liberia’s development.

Another important point this book covers is the repositioning of Liberia within global history. Liberia is often treated as a marginal or exceptional case of African and American history. Gbitee works to challenge that framing by showing that Liberia’s story may reflect the larger questions about freedom, race, migration, nationalism, and belonging, which continue to resonate in contemporary global struggles. The founding of Liberia may reflect the unresolved contradictions of the 19th-century Atlantic world, where competing ideologies of freedom and Power were in constant conflict. As a result, the book has significant contemporary relevance. Gbitee writes with clarity and restraint, allowing the truth of the history to be clearly set forth. His prose is measured, accessible, and grounded in evidence, ensuring that readers can engage with complex ideas in a straightforward manner. The book’s 115 pages are not filled with jargon. In contrast, they offer valuable insight to the readers, prompting reflection on both past and present struggles. Each chapter builds patiently toward a more layered understanding of what it meant and still may mean to imagine a Black republic in a world structured by empire and inequality.

In doing so, Coming to Africa has become more than a book that offers a look into Liberia’s formation. It is a valuable depiction of how nations are born from the hopes and compromises of ordinary people, realizing when the time is right and taking action.

Moreover, Coming to Africa stands as an important contribution to African, African American, and diaspora studies. For readers who are keen to learn about the origins of Liberia and the transatlantic forces that shaped it, Coming to Africa: Historical Figures in the Founding of Liberia is an essential and informative read.

Richard Bruce and the Unlikely Grace at the Center of Sometime Child

NY Weekly Staff on January 12, 2026

By: Melody Wolf

Richard Bruce’s Sometime Child opens in a place of rupture rather than reassurance. A violent encounter in a New York City alleyway brings three strangers into sudden and irreversible proximity, setting off a chain of events that resists easy moral categories. From its first pages, the novel establishes itself not as a conventional story of crime and consequence, but as an inquiry into how people shaped by vastly different circumstances might still find moments of understanding, accountability, and change.

Bruce makes no attempt to soften the entry point. He introduces upheaval before context, forcing readers to sit with discomfort before insight arrives. His intention, he explains, was to establish a ‘before’, without hinting at the fact that the lives of each of the characters would change in unexpected ways as they interacted with each other. At that stage, he adds, he did not expect readers to feel “much in the way of hope for either of the assailants.”

That lack of early hope is central to the novel’s emotional architecture. Transformation, when it comes, feels hard-won rather than inevitable.

Although Sometime Child is fiction, its emotional truth is shaped by Bruce’s real-world experiences. In 1999, he volunteered with a program serving teenagers navigating unsafe neighborhoods, unstable home lives, and under-resourced schools. One early relationship proved especially formative.

His first student warned him that visiting her home would not be safe. “As I spent time with her, I came to understand the difficulties she faced firsthand,” Bruce recalls. Encounters like these did not translate directly into plot, but they informed the novel’s ethical center, an awareness of how quickly children are judged for circumstances beyond their control.

At the center of Sometime Child is an unlikely connection between a successful attorney and two teenage boys whose lives have unfolded along sharply divergent paths. Their relationship becomes a means of examining class not as theory, but as lived experience, one that quietly influences opportunity, expectation, and self-perception.

Bruce is explicit about what he hopes readers will see: that young people, regardless of circumstance, “have the same dreams and hopes.” The novel asks what might become possible if individuals from “wildly different backgrounds” were “willing to spend the time and place to listen to each other.”

Listening, in Bruce’s view, is not passive. It is an act with consequences. “Those who have so little may find ways to improve their lives, while those with so much can find ways to be kind to others,” he says, “so it can be a win/win.” In the novel, connection operates not as charity, but as mutual reckoning.

Forgiveness runs through Sometime Child, but Bruce refuses to romanticize it. Forgiveness does not erase harm or absolve responsibility. Instead, it is framed as a choice to release what corrodes from within. “Holding grudges is an extra weight that serves no purpose,” he says.

New York City is more than a backdrop in Sometime Child; it is an unspoken force. Bruce portrays a city where physical proximity does not guarantee understanding, where people can live minutes apart yet inhabit entirely different realities. The setting “allowed me to portray my main characters living or working just minutes apart but in totally different environments…environments that put a mark on their lives…good or bad, that can be difficult to shed.”

The title Sometime Child carries both ache and promise. Children raised in poverty are constantly confronted with what they lack, through media, culture, and daily exposure to lives they cannot access. Yet, Bruce emphasizes, their aspirations are no different from those of any other child. He chose the title to reflect the belief that “SOMETIME their dreams will come true,” and that there is “a path that can make a child’s dreams come true.”

While Sometime Child does not shy away from violence, inequality, or loss, Bruce was intentional about resisting despair. “Despite all the turmoil and challenges in the world today…I wanted my book to be upbeat,” he explains, “but at the same time, I wanted my book to be based in reality.” His aim was to “walk that line between evil and goodness,” trusting readers to grapple with both.

In essence, the novel extends an invitation rather than a verdict—to pause judgment, to practice empathy, and to recognize shared humanity where it is least expected. As Bruce puts it, he hopes readers will come away understanding “how important it is to avoid pre-judging and be empathetic to troubled children born into environments they would not have chosen had they been able to do so.”

Sometime Child is available now on Amazon.

The City of Gods Delivers a Story That Pulls You Under

NY Weekly Staff on January 12, 2026

Jason Patterson’s The City of Gods does not rush to claim your attention. It earns it over time, through careful pacing and a steady confidence in its own world. The novel unfolds without urgency, yet it never feels idle. Instead, it draws readers in quietly, allowing the city and its tensions to take shape before asking for full investment. By the time that investment arrives, it feels natural rather than forced.

From the opening pages, the city at the novel’s heart feels alert and watchful. Patterson builds it through accumulation rather than exposition. Streets, courts, and places of worship carry the residue of past decisions. Power is present everywhere, but rarely visible in a single source. There is always something operating just beyond the reader’s view, a sense that control shifts in subtle ways before anyone openly acknowledges it. The tension remains steady, growing as characters begin to understand how exposed they truly are once long-standing balances start to tilt.

This is not a story driven by shock or spectacle. Patterson resists the temptation to rely on abrupt turns or dramatic reveals. Instead, he lets small moments do the work. A warning offered too late. A conversation that ends without resolution. A decision made in confidence that later proves costly. These moments echo forward, shaping conflicts that feel earned rather than engineered. The pleasure of the novel comes from recognizing how early choices continue to matter long after they are made.

Character work remains one of the book’s strongest elements. Patterson writes people who feel shaped by their environment rather than elevated above it. They carry doubts, private loyalties, and fears they do not always name aloud. Survival often matters more than honor. Control matters more than truth. These priorities give the story a grounded quality that many fantasy novels lack. The conflicts feel real because the motivations are recognizable.

Patterson also understands the power of restraint. Some of the effective scenes unfold without confrontation or explanation. Two characters sharing a space in silence. A pause where a truth almost surfaces and then disappears. These moments invite the reader to participate, to read between the lines rather than wait for instruction. Much of the novel’s emotional weight lives in what remains unsaid.

As the plot advances, the city itself becomes more than a backdrop. Its structure begins to influence the direction of every action. Alleys funnel people toward danger. Courts reward obedience while punishing curiosity. Temples offer comfort while reinforcing hierarchy. Patterson uses the setting to show how history narrows choice, and how belief can guide behavior while quietly limiting vision. The city does not simply host the story. It shapes it.

Midway through the novel, the larger design begins to surface. Threads that once seemed incidental start to connect. Characters who lingered on the margins gain relevance. Power shifts not through spectacle, but through accumulation. The sense of inevitability grows, and with it, a quiet tension that carries the reader forward.

By the final chapters, the novel gains clarity and force. Patterson does not rush the conclusion. He allows consequences to land where they must, trusting the groundwork he has already laid. The ending feels considered rather than dramatic, which suits the story it completes.

The City of Gods Delivers a Story That Pulls You Under

Photo Courtesy: Jason Patterson

The City of Gods is not a loud book, and it does not aim to be. Its strength lies in atmosphere, consequence, and the slow pressure of choices that cannot be reversed. For readers who value patience, structure, and character-driven tension, Patterson offers a story worth sitting with. It lingers after the final page, not because it demands attention, but because it has earned it.

The City of the Gods is available now on Amazon. To learn more about the book and its author, head over to The City of Gods. 

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and reflects the author’s personal views on The City of Gods by Jason Patterson. It is not intended as legal, financial, or professional advice. While efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no warranties are made regarding the completeness or reliability of the information. Use of this information is at your own risk.

Between These Walls: A Gripping Journey Through History’s Darkest Corridors

NY Weekly Staff on January 11, 2026

By: Paul White

History has a way of hiding its deepest secrets behind closed doors and within silent walls. Some stories remain buried for decades, waiting for the right moment to emerge and demand to be told. Between These Walls is not merely a work of historical fiction but a profound exploration of identity, survival, and the unbreakable bonds that connect generations across time and tragedy. Written by Michael Newman, this compelling narrative weaves together threads of war, persecution, and redemption into a tapestry that seeks to captivate the reader’s heart and mind.

A Tale Woven from Three Families

In the summer of 1988, New York art curator Daniel Singer receives a mysterious package from West Berlin, sealed with security tape that may shatter everything he thought he knew about himself and his family. What begins as a simple delivery transforms into an extraordinary odyssey that spans continents and decades, pulling Daniel into a labyrinth of secrets that have been carefully guarded for over forty years.

Newman masterfully constructs a dual timeline that oscillates between May 1945 and July 1988, creating a narrative bridge across generations. In the dying days of World War II, on the American-occupied side of Germany’s Elbe River, US Army Medical Corps Colonel Samuel Singer comes upon the shot-up wreck of a smoldering SS staff car. Inside: a badly injured driver, a dead German Army officer carrying the ID of a Nazi war criminal, and a young blonde woman, also dead in the back seat. This haunting discovery sets in motion a chain of events that will echo across four decades.

The story sweeps across the battlefields of World War I, through the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust, into the founding of Israel, and through three Middle East wars. Each historical moment is rendered with meticulous attention to detail and emotional authenticity.

The involvement of the Mossad, Israel’s legendary intelligence agency, adds layers of intrigue and suspense to Daniel’s quest. As he uncovers shocking truths about his heritage, Daniel must navigate a treacherous landscape where the past and present collide, where old wounds remain fresh, and where the consequences of long-buried secrets may threaten to destroy everything he holds dear. Following one American family and two German families, Newman crafts a narrative that explores not just acts of evil and callous indifference but also acts of heroism, generosity, and love in the time of Adolf Hitler’s rise and eventual defeat.

A Labor of Love Rooted in Personal History

Newman’s research was exhaustive and deeply personal. He traveled throughout Europe, visiting the actual locations that appear prominently in the book. He walked the streets of Berlin, discovering the stolpersteine, the engraved brass plaques embedded in the cobblestone streets marking where Jewish families lived before the Nazis deported them to their deaths in Auschwitz. He ventured to the Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden near Munich, Hitler’s wartime summer home perched high in the Bavarian Alps. Most significantly, he visited Mauthausen concentration camp itself, where his own father had been imprisoned by the Nazis in 1944-45.

“My visits to Mauthausen, Berlin, and Hitler’s summer home at Eagle’s Nest were the motivators for me to write Between These Walls,” Newman explains.
 “These places provided me with the inspiration and ideas for the plot and premise of the book. With the global rise in antisemitism, the words ‘Never again’ seem more urgent than ever.”

The book’s website features a compelling gallery of images from Newman’s travels, including photographs of historical documents and the actual locations featured in the story.

The Author Behind the Words

Michael Newman brings an unparalleled authenticity to Between These Walls because he writes not as a distant observer of history, but as someone whose life has been indelibly shaped by it. The son of Holocaust survivors, Newman has always had a deep interest in the Second World War, not as an academic pursuit, but as a personal mission to understand and honor the experiences that defined his family’s existence. He received first-hand accounts of what happened during WWII in the concentration camps, particularly Mauthausen, where his father was imprisoned.

Newman’s mother, aunt, and grandmother were hidden by Righteous Gentiles in Budapest during World War II. His father fought in the Hungarian Army, dug trenches in a forced labor battalion near Stalingrad, and later endured eight terrible months at Mauthausen in Austria. In 1956, at age twelve, Newman himself became a refugee, slogging through mud and snow, dodging guard huts to escape into Austria after the crushed Hungarian uprising against the Soviets.

Years later, as a successful self-made real estate magnate and founder of InterRent, a real estate investment trust on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Newman could have allowed his professional achievements to define him. Instead, he chose to honor his heritage by telling a story that needed to be told. He has since taken his wife, three children, and one granddaughter on trips to Mauthausen, ensuring that the next generation never forgets.

During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, concerned over what he perceived as one-sided news coverage against Israel, he had the opportunity to travel, surreptitiously, to Israel. Using a connection with an Israeli intelligence colonel, Newman spent a week in the war zone, visiting bomb shelters, air raid command centers, and troops in the field. This experience became a model for a character in his book who helped Israel fight for independence in 1948.

“I am not a religious person, but I do identify myself with what happened during the Holocaust and I am very much a Zionist and support the founding of Israel,” Newman says.
 This conviction breathes through every page of Between These Walls, giving the novel an emotional authenticity that resonates with readers across all backgrounds.

Today, Newman lives on Toronto’s waterfront with his wife, Dixie, and their Morkie, Mia. Surrounded by five children and eleven grandchildren, he has transformed the pain of his family’s past into a gift for future generations. Writing books, as Newman admits, is “a career change I wasn’t expecting to make at this stage of life. It’s been gratifying for the ego.” He is currently working on a sequel with the working title A Daughter’s Revenge, and has hired a screenwriter on spec to craft a six-part series based on his first book.

Between These Walls: A Gripping Journey Through History's Darkest Corridors

Photo Courtesy: Michael Newman (Author Michael Newman, his wife Dixie, and their beloved Morkie, Mia)

Critical Acclaim and Distinguished Recognition

Between These Walls has garnered significant recognition from the literary community and continues to win the hearts of readers worldwide. The book was honored as a Distinguished Favorite in Historical Fiction at the prestigious 2020 NYC Big Book Award. It has also received recognition from the Whistler Independent Book Awards, which praised it as a “good, unique and worthwhile book,” noting that “the different times and places over which the story takes place were well realized and distinct.”

Kirkus Reviews lauded the novel’s meticulous research: “The historical authenticity of the work is admirable; the author’s research is scrupulously rigorous, and much of the book is enjoyably edifying.”

BookLife offered high praise: “Each narrative is richly drawn, revealing the characters’ emotions and motivations while adding the perfect amount of historical background. This powerful novel will likely appeal to any reader of historical suspense fiction.”

Reader reviews have been equally enthusiastic, with many noting the book’s “next level” historical detail, “relentless” twists, and praising how Newman “nails the dual timeline storytelling.”

Between These Walls: A Gripping Journey Through History's Darkest Corridors

Photo Courtesy: Michael Newman (Michael Newman presenting a copy of his novel to Mosab Hassan Yousef, also known as the Green Prince and Son of Hamas, at a Jewish National Fund event in Toronto in 2025)

More Than Historical Fiction: A Mirror to Our Times

What sets Between These Walls apart is its refusal to treat history as a distant, academic subject. Newman understands that history is not made of dates and events, but of people. Real people with families, dreams, fears, and impossible choices. The three families at the center of this narrative, one American and two German, could be any families, which is precisely what makes their story so powerful and so necessary.

The novel explores themes that remain painfully relevant: the nature of identity, the cost of survival, the weight of secrets, and the possibility of redemption. Newman offers nuanced portrayals of various characters rather than flat depictions in black and white, thus illustrating the complexity of acts that are both heroic and heinous. The title itself references the hiding space occupied by the members of one family for nearly a year and a half, a powerful metaphor for the walls we build to protect ourselves and the walls that imprison us.

Discover the Truth Behind the Walls

Between These Walls is available for purchase through multiple platforms, making it accessible to readers worldwide. The novel is available in both paperback and Kindle editions.
Links: 

For more information about Michael Newman, updates on the forthcoming sequel A Daughter’s Revenge, visit: Michael Newman Official Website.

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