Leslie K. Barry's Blog, page 2
April 9, 2021
Unlikely Band of Boxers Save America
Between 1910 and 1940, boxing was the most popular sport in America. Entering into the ring with more contenders in the eight weight classes than any other ethnic group were Jewish boxers. They dominated the sport with twenty-six world championships.
What was their secret? They were the sons and brothers of hardened survivors whose parents had escaped horrors. They had no options. College was a luxury. Work was scarce. Boxing brought opportunity and community. And as a bonus, boxing came to represent the fight against anti-semitism from the working class.
Then these boxers were recruited for a much higher cause. During the Great Depression in Newark, NJ, these boxers were recruited by Mob King Longie Zwillman and trained by champion fighter, Nat Arno, to help the US government fight German-American Nazis taking over America. This resistance patrolled and disrupted meetings, went under cover, collected evidence and much more.
The novel Newark Minutemen immortalizes these men with messages like the following:
“I like it,” Dr. Kalb says wrinkling his forehead. “You Newark Minutemen got tactics, unlike the thugs-for-hire in New York who just pummel the bad guys until they don’t move anymore.”
“Who wouldn’t want our prize-fighting boxers as their militia?” Longie says. “We got more boys winning in the ring than anyone in the World.”
Dr. Kalb unbuttons his suit jacket and reads his pocket watch. “The secret is the juice running through these boys’ veins,” he says in his forthright tone. “They’re kids like I was, who cut their teeth fighting Russian Cossacks. As a boy, I watched mothers hacked to death with machetes and baby brothers splatted against the wall.” The contrast of the blood and guts he’s describing against his clean-shaven, compassionate reputation is dizzying. “We’re the fierce kids who battled with guns, knives and bombs. Became a prime militia.” I know these stories from my father, but to hear them again fills my ire like an empty gas tank.
“We’re also the battle-hardened survivors of the Great War who reclaimed Palestine from the Turks,” Longie says. Our leaders are describing the boxers and their sons who are the Newark Minutemen. I swell with pride whenever Longie compares us to King David's mighty warriors. The timin’ is lucky that Longie’s got an army of boxers he can pivot into a band of soldiers for the FBI."
These are a few of the heroes:
Benny Leonard was the symbol of physical fitness. Barney Ross, the famous champions. Max Baer and Joe Choynski flexed their Adonis bodies Ruby Goldstein was unbeatable. “Slapsie” Maxie Rosenbloom was a great light-heavyweight champion.
Nat Arno
Harry Dropper Vines Levine
Abie Bain
Benny Levine
Max Puddy Hinkes
Allie Stoltz
Moe Fisher
Al Fisher
Maxie Fisher
Tony Starr
Mendie Kirschbaum
Abe Green
Ruby Gross
Benny “Pavalyah” High
Irving Berlin (not the songwriter)
Jake “Mohawk Skuratofsky
Marty Cohen
Irving Edisis
Pinny
Little Itzig Goldstein
Murray Wachsman
Solly Castallene
Hymie the Weasel Kugel the referee
Benny “Blubber” Markowitz
Julius Skinny Markowitz
Louie Halper
Louis Slott
Max Novich
Mickey Fox Breitkopf
Moe Fischer
Benny Leonard
Alexander Portnoff
Al Gorlin
Jerome Rodburg
Max Feilshuss
Benjamin Hirsch
George Hirsch
Dr. S. William Kalb
Jake “Cocky Jake” Rothseid
Leo Lerner
King David had his massive army with 3 powerful leaders and his 30 mighty men. His best men were said that one man is equal to a thousand2 Samuel 23:8-39, Chronicles 12:14, New Century Version (NCV)
What was their secret? They were the sons and brothers of hardened survivors whose parents had escaped horrors. They had no options. College was a luxury. Work was scarce. Boxing brought opportunity and community. And as a bonus, boxing came to represent the fight against anti-semitism from the working class.
Then these boxers were recruited for a much higher cause. During the Great Depression in Newark, NJ, these boxers were recruited by Mob King Longie Zwillman and trained by champion fighter, Nat Arno, to help the US government fight German-American Nazis taking over America. This resistance patrolled and disrupted meetings, went under cover, collected evidence and much more.
The novel Newark Minutemen immortalizes these men with messages like the following:
“I like it,” Dr. Kalb says wrinkling his forehead. “You Newark Minutemen got tactics, unlike the thugs-for-hire in New York who just pummel the bad guys until they don’t move anymore.”
“Who wouldn’t want our prize-fighting boxers as their militia?” Longie says. “We got more boys winning in the ring than anyone in the World.”
Dr. Kalb unbuttons his suit jacket and reads his pocket watch. “The secret is the juice running through these boys’ veins,” he says in his forthright tone. “They’re kids like I was, who cut their teeth fighting Russian Cossacks. As a boy, I watched mothers hacked to death with machetes and baby brothers splatted against the wall.” The contrast of the blood and guts he’s describing against his clean-shaven, compassionate reputation is dizzying. “We’re the fierce kids who battled with guns, knives and bombs. Became a prime militia.” I know these stories from my father, but to hear them again fills my ire like an empty gas tank.
“We’re also the battle-hardened survivors of the Great War who reclaimed Palestine from the Turks,” Longie says. Our leaders are describing the boxers and their sons who are the Newark Minutemen. I swell with pride whenever Longie compares us to King David's mighty warriors. The timin’ is lucky that Longie’s got an army of boxers he can pivot into a band of soldiers for the FBI."
These are a few of the heroes:
Benny Leonard was the symbol of physical fitness. Barney Ross, the famous champions. Max Baer and Joe Choynski flexed their Adonis bodies Ruby Goldstein was unbeatable. “Slapsie” Maxie Rosenbloom was a great light-heavyweight champion.
Nat Arno
Harry Dropper Vines Levine
Abie Bain
Benny Levine
Max Puddy Hinkes
Allie Stoltz
Moe Fisher
Al Fisher
Maxie Fisher
Tony Starr
Mendie Kirschbaum
Abe Green
Ruby Gross
Benny “Pavalyah” High
Irving Berlin (not the songwriter)
Jake “Mohawk Skuratofsky
Marty Cohen
Irving Edisis
Pinny
Little Itzig Goldstein
Murray Wachsman
Solly Castallene
Hymie the Weasel Kugel the referee
Benny “Blubber” Markowitz
Julius Skinny Markowitz
Louie Halper
Louis Slott
Max Novich
Mickey Fox Breitkopf
Moe Fischer
Benny Leonard
Alexander Portnoff
Al Gorlin
Jerome Rodburg
Max Feilshuss
Benjamin Hirsch
George Hirsch
Dr. S. William Kalb
Jake “Cocky Jake” Rothseid
Leo Lerner
King David had his massive army with 3 powerful leaders and his 30 mighty men. His best men were said that one man is equal to a thousand2 Samuel 23:8-39, Chronicles 12:14, New Century Version (NCV)
March 21, 2021
Crime Drama Meets Historical Romance
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
Newark Minutemen opens with the tension of a cinematic action film and collides into the drama of a love affair doomed for failure. The set up follows the tempo reminiscent of The farm scene from Inglourious Bastards and evolves into a vengeful yet courageous operation of a “Peaky Blinders” brotherhood.
Layered over a divided America of the Great Depression, a Jewish boxer goes undercover in New Jersey for the mob and FBI to stop the rising German-American Nazi Bund from destroying democracy. Rippling against the conflict of the country, the undercover boxer falls in love with the daughter of the enemy. The tension that builds is smart, fast-paced and intricately plotted with plenty of twists and surprises.
The story teases the reader to love the anti-heroes. Told through four narrators, the reader gains empathy for all sides with perspectives of both the kindness and wickedness of all sides. Through different perspectives, the reader gains understanding as to why Americans closed their eyes to the dangerous threat.
The truth behind this story and real-life characters is shocking. Experiencing Swastika flags draped over George Washington is right out of a dystopian novel—yet this story is based on true American history backed up by FBI documents, archives, interviews and diaries. The reader gains an intimate relationship with gangsters and Nazis alike. The scenes from American-Nazi youth camps in Long Island and the Poconos are particularly chilling. They help the reader understand the power propaganda can play on children.
This story stops you in your tracks. The backdrop of detailed history shows how close we came to disaster. This untold American story has been waiting to be told and the echoes of today make it particularly relevant today. The author has managed to pack suspense, passion, and history into a book that immortalizes and brings much-needed attention to a band of Jewish boxers who helped change the course of history.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
Newark Minutemen opens with the tension of a cinematic action film and collides into the drama of a love affair doomed for failure. The set up follows the tempo reminiscent of The farm scene from Inglourious Bastards and evolves into a vengeful yet courageous operation of a “Peaky Blinders” brotherhood.
Layered over a divided America of the Great Depression, a Jewish boxer goes undercover in New Jersey for the mob and FBI to stop the rising German-American Nazi Bund from destroying democracy. Rippling against the conflict of the country, the undercover boxer falls in love with the daughter of the enemy. The tension that builds is smart, fast-paced and intricately plotted with plenty of twists and surprises.
The story teases the reader to love the anti-heroes. Told through four narrators, the reader gains empathy for all sides with perspectives of both the kindness and wickedness of all sides. Through different perspectives, the reader gains understanding as to why Americans closed their eyes to the dangerous threat.
The truth behind this story and real-life characters is shocking. Experiencing Swastika flags draped over George Washington is right out of a dystopian novel—yet this story is based on true American history backed up by FBI documents, archives, interviews and diaries. The reader gains an intimate relationship with gangsters and Nazis alike. The scenes from American-Nazi youth camps in Long Island and the Poconos are particularly chilling. They help the reader understand the power propaganda can play on children.
This story stops you in your tracks. The backdrop of detailed history shows how close we came to disaster. This untold American story has been waiting to be told and the echoes of today make it particularly relevant today. The author has managed to pack suspense, passion, and history into a book that immortalizes and brings much-needed attention to a band of Jewish boxers who helped change the course of history.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
March 2, 2021
Newark Minutemen Author Interview
WHERE DID THE IDEA COME FROM?
Newark Minutemen is based on a family story I’ve heard all my life about my Mom’s older brother. At her 90th birthday , I became inspired to unravel the tale of an FBI and mafia agreement to turn a group of Jewish boxers into the Newark Minutemen militia.
WAS THE PLOT CLEAR TO YOU FROM THE START?
I imagined the beginning as a flashback that would reoccur at the end. And I knew the inciting action would be a young Batman-like boy witnessing his parents brutal death at the hands of the enemy and then avenging. From there, I worked along a historical timeline. I had three challenges. One was to make sure the reader forgot they were reading a historical novel. Two, choosing among the piles of content I had. Three, creating different voices for the four narrators and making the reader empathize with all of them. Also, because I had written and sold the screenplay before I wrote the book, I had to add a lot of detail and character thought. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.
HOW MUCH OF THE STORY IS TRUE?
I would say about 80%. This is NOT another WWII Nazi story, nor a dystopian story where Hitler wins. This is a real-life forgotten fictionalized American story about waking up to the enemy sitting on our doorstep. Wherever possible, I have included factual information based on historical first hand sources including FBI and Senate hearing documents, interviews, testimonies, archives, diaries, timelines, newsreels, radio announcements and news articles. However, because of the death of so many characters by the time the story was captured, the overshadowing of the horrors of the second World War and the secretive nature between the mob and the FBI, I have constructed scenes and dialogue where missing pieces arise or where it makes sense to combine characters. I have compressed events to best work for a novel and have dramatized events that were abridged accounts.
Führer Fritz Kuhn was the real American Führer, the self-professed American Hitler. He managed and unified tens of thousands of American-Nazi Bund members into hundreds of cells and managed 25 Nazi youth camps across the US. These camps indoctrinated youth with Nazi ideology, culture and military training. Kuhn’s six-company corporation generated millions. He exploited US resources like the NRA and National guard to equip his army with guns and training. The FBI tracked millions of dollars in leading banks to Germany that proved ties between the American Bund and German Nazis.
The protagonist Yael embodies John C. Metcalfe, Chicago Times undercover reporter who became a Nazi Stormtrooper to uncover the threat of Nazism in America, testified for the Senate hearings and FBI and consulted on Confessions of a Nazi Spy movie. I had the pleasure of speaking with his son and reading John’s undercover diaries. The heroine, Krista, embodies Helen Vooros, who testified for the Senate hearings and FBI that she was raped in American Hitler Youth camps. In America, Jews were bullied, even hung with swastikas carved into their chests.
WHAT RESEARCH DID YOU DO FOR THE STORY?
I spent months asking my Mom to describe details of life during the 1930s Depression, her family, where they bought food, even how they took out the trash. I transported myself back in time. She talked about her brothers running numbers for Longie in his hideout behind the candy store, how Longie was adored like a Robin Hood and how she wrote up the power of attorney for his trial. She explained that during the Depression, the mob took care of the neighborhood when the government couldn’t. I started to unpuzzle the role of the mob, their relationship with the FBI and the unorthodox systems of rules and power propping up America during this teetering decade. We visited her family who corroborated the stories about how my Uncle was part of the FBI-mob militia that went out and infiltrated the rising Party that was being ignored by others.
I discovered a lot of first and second hand sources. Howard Metcalfe, the son of undercover writer John Metcalfe, helped me understand the life of working undercover in the American-Nazi Bund, shared his personal files and family book and granted permission to use his father’s diaries from the Hoover Institute. The FBI archives and reams of documents from the Investigation of un-American propaganda activities in the United States: Hearings before a Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives provided voices and testimonies and contained priceless Bund documents, initiation rites, home-movies, names, financials, photographs, songs, and more. The March of Times: Inside Nazi Germany directed by Jack Glenn in 1938, video images from the 1939 President’s day Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden as well as reprinted speeches in the Free America Pamphlet distributed that day helped to bring authenticity to the story. The Oviatt Library at CSUN provided unique resources and speakers. Warren Grover in his book Nazis in Newark reinforces stories about the Newark Minutemen and the Jewish mob. Chilling resources such as Ice Creatures: The Nazi Educational System by Dr. Tamar Ketko, and the expertly researched book Wunderlich’s Salute by Marvin D. Miller leave no doubt to the ties between Nazi Germany and the German American-Nazi Bund.
FULWELL73 PRODUCTIONS HAS THE MOVIE RIGHTS. WHAT ROLE WILL YOU HAVE IN BRINGING THAT TO SCREEN?
To date, I’ve provided expertise to and consulting with the producers and screenplay writers, providing support and answering questions. They’ve been very collaborative and will be an Executive Producer. But I am excited to discover how other top creators will see and tell the story. Honestly, at first, I did this story for my Mom. But then it turned into much more. It’s a story of how complacency can become our biggest enemy. I’m hoping that message will transpire.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
Newark Minutemen is based on a family story I’ve heard all my life about my Mom’s older brother. At her 90th birthday , I became inspired to unravel the tale of an FBI and mafia agreement to turn a group of Jewish boxers into the Newark Minutemen militia.
WAS THE PLOT CLEAR TO YOU FROM THE START?
I imagined the beginning as a flashback that would reoccur at the end. And I knew the inciting action would be a young Batman-like boy witnessing his parents brutal death at the hands of the enemy and then avenging. From there, I worked along a historical timeline. I had three challenges. One was to make sure the reader forgot they were reading a historical novel. Two, choosing among the piles of content I had. Three, creating different voices for the four narrators and making the reader empathize with all of them. Also, because I had written and sold the screenplay before I wrote the book, I had to add a lot of detail and character thought. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.
HOW MUCH OF THE STORY IS TRUE?
I would say about 80%. This is NOT another WWII Nazi story, nor a dystopian story where Hitler wins. This is a real-life forgotten fictionalized American story about waking up to the enemy sitting on our doorstep. Wherever possible, I have included factual information based on historical first hand sources including FBI and Senate hearing documents, interviews, testimonies, archives, diaries, timelines, newsreels, radio announcements and news articles. However, because of the death of so many characters by the time the story was captured, the overshadowing of the horrors of the second World War and the secretive nature between the mob and the FBI, I have constructed scenes and dialogue where missing pieces arise or where it makes sense to combine characters. I have compressed events to best work for a novel and have dramatized events that were abridged accounts.
Führer Fritz Kuhn was the real American Führer, the self-professed American Hitler. He managed and unified tens of thousands of American-Nazi Bund members into hundreds of cells and managed 25 Nazi youth camps across the US. These camps indoctrinated youth with Nazi ideology, culture and military training. Kuhn’s six-company corporation generated millions. He exploited US resources like the NRA and National guard to equip his army with guns and training. The FBI tracked millions of dollars in leading banks to Germany that proved ties between the American Bund and German Nazis.
The protagonist Yael embodies John C. Metcalfe, Chicago Times undercover reporter who became a Nazi Stormtrooper to uncover the threat of Nazism in America, testified for the Senate hearings and FBI and consulted on Confessions of a Nazi Spy movie. I had the pleasure of speaking with his son and reading John’s undercover diaries. The heroine, Krista, embodies Helen Vooros, who testified for the Senate hearings and FBI that she was raped in American Hitler Youth camps. In America, Jews were bullied, even hung with swastikas carved into their chests.
WHAT RESEARCH DID YOU DO FOR THE STORY?
I spent months asking my Mom to describe details of life during the 1930s Depression, her family, where they bought food, even how they took out the trash. I transported myself back in time. She talked about her brothers running numbers for Longie in his hideout behind the candy store, how Longie was adored like a Robin Hood and how she wrote up the power of attorney for his trial. She explained that during the Depression, the mob took care of the neighborhood when the government couldn’t. I started to unpuzzle the role of the mob, their relationship with the FBI and the unorthodox systems of rules and power propping up America during this teetering decade. We visited her family who corroborated the stories about how my Uncle was part of the FBI-mob militia that went out and infiltrated the rising Party that was being ignored by others.
I discovered a lot of first and second hand sources. Howard Metcalfe, the son of undercover writer John Metcalfe, helped me understand the life of working undercover in the American-Nazi Bund, shared his personal files and family book and granted permission to use his father’s diaries from the Hoover Institute. The FBI archives and reams of documents from the Investigation of un-American propaganda activities in the United States: Hearings before a Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives provided voices and testimonies and contained priceless Bund documents, initiation rites, home-movies, names, financials, photographs, songs, and more. The March of Times: Inside Nazi Germany directed by Jack Glenn in 1938, video images from the 1939 President’s day Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden as well as reprinted speeches in the Free America Pamphlet distributed that day helped to bring authenticity to the story. The Oviatt Library at CSUN provided unique resources and speakers. Warren Grover in his book Nazis in Newark reinforces stories about the Newark Minutemen and the Jewish mob. Chilling resources such as Ice Creatures: The Nazi Educational System by Dr. Tamar Ketko, and the expertly researched book Wunderlich’s Salute by Marvin D. Miller leave no doubt to the ties between Nazi Germany and the German American-Nazi Bund.
FULWELL73 PRODUCTIONS HAS THE MOVIE RIGHTS. WHAT ROLE WILL YOU HAVE IN BRINGING THAT TO SCREEN?
To date, I’ve provided expertise to and consulting with the producers and screenplay writers, providing support and answering questions. They’ve been very collaborative and will be an Executive Producer. But I am excited to discover how other top creators will see and tell the story. Honestly, at first, I did this story for my Mom. But then it turned into much more. It’s a story of how complacency can become our biggest enemy. I’m hoping that message will transpire.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
Author’s Guild interview: Leslie K. Barry and historical romance Newark Minutemen
https://www.authorsguild.org/the-writ...
Why is writing important to you and why do you think it's an important medium for the world? My stories have either never been told, or told by people who have taken life out of context. The characters I write about in historical fiction novels are authentic with heroic lives. They're based on real people, often developed through genealogy platforms such as ancestry. Because they are real people, I give them voice and make them all narrators. Through different voices, the reader gains perspective from all sides, creeping empathy into uncomfortable places. They are often anti-heroes who have their side of the story. And I want traders to appreciate different perspectives. My novels explore the convulsive collision of history and romance that allow readers take a chilling look at devastating events that were occurring in history.
What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer's block? The more you understand your character and their motivations, the easier it is to develop their path through life. When I am stuck, I go to personality systems to understand the actions my characters will take. Also, because I am very visual, I create storyboards so I can see what’s happening and puzzle out the world.
What is your favorite time to write? My favorite time to write is at night when everyone and everything is shut down. It’s the time I can focus and see the best.
What's the best piece of writing advice you've ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Stay committed to your vision but along the way, listen to those giving you feedback about your story who do not understand the characters or the plot. This is your problem to help them understand.
What excites you most about being a writer in today's age? In today’s age, writers can be detectives. Through technology and communication, it’s easy to discover so many untold stories and uncelebrated heroes and tell their stories. And then it’s easy to reach the people who will appreciate the stories.
Leslie K. Barry's Newark Minutemen: A True 1930s Legend About One Man's Mission to Save a Nation's Soul Without Losing His Own is out now with Morgan James.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
Why is writing important to you and why do you think it's an important medium for the world? My stories have either never been told, or told by people who have taken life out of context. The characters I write about in historical fiction novels are authentic with heroic lives. They're based on real people, often developed through genealogy platforms such as ancestry. Because they are real people, I give them voice and make them all narrators. Through different voices, the reader gains perspective from all sides, creeping empathy into uncomfortable places. They are often anti-heroes who have their side of the story. And I want traders to appreciate different perspectives. My novels explore the convulsive collision of history and romance that allow readers take a chilling look at devastating events that were occurring in history.
What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer's block? The more you understand your character and their motivations, the easier it is to develop their path through life. When I am stuck, I go to personality systems to understand the actions my characters will take. Also, because I am very visual, I create storyboards so I can see what’s happening and puzzle out the world.
What is your favorite time to write? My favorite time to write is at night when everyone and everything is shut down. It’s the time I can focus and see the best.
What's the best piece of writing advice you've ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Stay committed to your vision but along the way, listen to those giving you feedback about your story who do not understand the characters or the plot. This is your problem to help them understand.
What excites you most about being a writer in today's age? In today’s age, writers can be detectives. Through technology and communication, it’s easy to discover so many untold stories and uncelebrated heroes and tell their stories. And then it’s easy to reach the people who will appreciate the stories.
Leslie K. Barry's Newark Minutemen: A True 1930s Legend About One Man's Mission to Save a Nation's Soul Without Losing His Own is out now with Morgan James.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
February 27, 2021
“Fire in Our Hearts (Newark Minutemen)” by Artist Shaya Barry Takes on Love & Heroism
“Fire in Our Hearts (Newark Minutemen)” by Artist Shaya Barry Takes on Love & Heroism
The haunting pop song is the score for the audio book release of the bestselling historical novel, and soon to be motion picture, based on a true story of Jewish boxers and mobsters fighting German-American Nazis during tin the 1930s
February 25, 2021 12:38 ET | Source: Morgan James Publishing
photo-release
The best selling historical novel Newark Minutemen by Leslie K. Barry will be released as an audio book on May 31st. Find out more at newarkminutemen.com.
Singer/songwriter Shaya Barry has released "Fire in Our Hearts (Newark Minutemen)," the first release from a series of songs and a soundtrack to Leslie K. Barry's best selling historical novel Newark Minutemen's audio book and trailer. Available on SoundCloud and Spotify.
San Francisco, CA, Feb. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The singer/songwriter Shaya has released “Fire in Our Hearts (Newark Minutemen),” a song based on the bestselling historical novel Newark Minutemen by her mother, Leslie K. Barry. The novel, published by Morgan James, is based on the Jewish boxers who joined with the mafia and the FBI to beat back the rising German-American Nazi party in New Jersey during the Great Depression. It’s the first historical romance to plant German-American Nazis in American soil well before a shot was fired in Europe and reveal the underground resistance against them here. The song accompanies a book trailer for the audiobook release from publisher Morgan James on May 31st.
Newark Minutemen’s feature film rights have been optioned by Fulwell73, the production company behind The Late Late Show with James Corden. The book “Newark Minutemen is an epic story of battles, boxers and mafia, overlaid with an explosive love affair that compares with the classic star-crossed stories from Casablanca to Titanic,” Producer Leo Pearlman told Variety.
Shaya Barry was especially inspired by the Romeo and Juliet-type story in which the boxing hero falls in love with the American Fuhrer’s daughter. Echoing the time when our country was ripped apart and men had lost their dignity, the song draws on the conflict between weakness and strength, darkness and light and the fight to save the most sacred force; love. The song was produced by David Simon-Baker and co-produced by April Grisman, with special thanks to Alec Otto and Chase Bader.
Shaya explains, “The challenge was balancing the darkness with a feeling of hope. I needed tension around resistance, a military feel for fight and identity, but at the same time a sense of uncertainty. There were a lot of contrasting emotions I wanted to capture. Working with my grandma and mom throughout 2020 gave me the focus to express something that was their story, yet expressed in my own style.”
Music producer, April Grisman, performer and daughter of Bay Area music legend Cyretta Ryan, says, “Shaya Barry has written the most alluring and breathtaking composition taking us on an epic journey of emotions through her brilliant method of creating tension and release with her haunting and beautiful vocals.”
The release of the song completes a chain of three generations of women in Leslie Barry’s family. Her mother lived the events the book are based on, and described the scene to Barry in extensive interviews that revealed her uncle’s history as one of the Nazi-punching boxers of New Jersey. Barry then researched the history extensively, including looking at FBI files and learning to box herself before writing the novel which has topped three Amazon bestseller lists and been praised across America and in Israel and France as well.
While Shaya has been writing, performing and producing songs growing up in Tiburon, CA, including one with Grammy nominated performer Mary Unobsky, “Fire in Our Hearts” is the first to be released as a platform of songs she has been working over the past several years during her time in San Francisco as a student at UC Berkeley and a summer in Nashville.
Watch the Newark Minutemen audiobook trailer with "Fire In Our Hearts" here.
Listen to "Fire in Our Hearts" now on SoundCloud here.
Add to you Spotfiy here.
More about Newark Minutemen:
Newark Minutemen is based on the incredible true story from the 1930s about a Jewish boxer who goes undercover for the mob and FBI to fight fascism in New Jersey during the Great Depression. It was a time when America remained complacent as Hitler spread racial hatred in Europe, and his fanatics could brashly goose-step down American streets waving twin Swastika and US flags, led by Fuhrer Fritz Kuhn. The Newark Minutemen were a band of Jewish boxers who rose up to fight this Nazi shadow party and, perhaps the greatest enemy of all, American complacency about this looming evil.
The novel is based on the real-life experiences of author Leslie K. Barry’s uncle, a Newark Minuteman boxer. The story was pieced together from first-hand accounts from Barry’s 93-year old mother and her cousin, FBI reports, boxes of undercover source material and years of research.
Read more about Leslie K. Barry’s novel Newark Minutemen here.
Facebook: Newark Minutemen Twitter: @NMinutemen
Order: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, Bookshop
For more information including interviews with Shaya and Leslie K. Barry contact: owen@thoughtgangmedia.com
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-re...
The haunting pop song is the score for the audio book release of the bestselling historical novel, and soon to be motion picture, based on a true story of Jewish boxers and mobsters fighting German-American Nazis during tin the 1930s
February 25, 2021 12:38 ET | Source: Morgan James Publishing
photo-release
The best selling historical novel Newark Minutemen by Leslie K. Barry will be released as an audio book on May 31st. Find out more at newarkminutemen.com.
Singer/songwriter Shaya Barry has released "Fire in Our Hearts (Newark Minutemen)," the first release from a series of songs and a soundtrack to Leslie K. Barry's best selling historical novel Newark Minutemen's audio book and trailer. Available on SoundCloud and Spotify.
San Francisco, CA, Feb. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The singer/songwriter Shaya has released “Fire in Our Hearts (Newark Minutemen),” a song based on the bestselling historical novel Newark Minutemen by her mother, Leslie K. Barry. The novel, published by Morgan James, is based on the Jewish boxers who joined with the mafia and the FBI to beat back the rising German-American Nazi party in New Jersey during the Great Depression. It’s the first historical romance to plant German-American Nazis in American soil well before a shot was fired in Europe and reveal the underground resistance against them here. The song accompanies a book trailer for the audiobook release from publisher Morgan James on May 31st.
Newark Minutemen’s feature film rights have been optioned by Fulwell73, the production company behind The Late Late Show with James Corden. The book “Newark Minutemen is an epic story of battles, boxers and mafia, overlaid with an explosive love affair that compares with the classic star-crossed stories from Casablanca to Titanic,” Producer Leo Pearlman told Variety.
Shaya Barry was especially inspired by the Romeo and Juliet-type story in which the boxing hero falls in love with the American Fuhrer’s daughter. Echoing the time when our country was ripped apart and men had lost their dignity, the song draws on the conflict between weakness and strength, darkness and light and the fight to save the most sacred force; love. The song was produced by David Simon-Baker and co-produced by April Grisman, with special thanks to Alec Otto and Chase Bader.
Shaya explains, “The challenge was balancing the darkness with a feeling of hope. I needed tension around resistance, a military feel for fight and identity, but at the same time a sense of uncertainty. There were a lot of contrasting emotions I wanted to capture. Working with my grandma and mom throughout 2020 gave me the focus to express something that was their story, yet expressed in my own style.”
Music producer, April Grisman, performer and daughter of Bay Area music legend Cyretta Ryan, says, “Shaya Barry has written the most alluring and breathtaking composition taking us on an epic journey of emotions through her brilliant method of creating tension and release with her haunting and beautiful vocals.”
The release of the song completes a chain of three generations of women in Leslie Barry’s family. Her mother lived the events the book are based on, and described the scene to Barry in extensive interviews that revealed her uncle’s history as one of the Nazi-punching boxers of New Jersey. Barry then researched the history extensively, including looking at FBI files and learning to box herself before writing the novel which has topped three Amazon bestseller lists and been praised across America and in Israel and France as well.
While Shaya has been writing, performing and producing songs growing up in Tiburon, CA, including one with Grammy nominated performer Mary Unobsky, “Fire in Our Hearts” is the first to be released as a platform of songs she has been working over the past several years during her time in San Francisco as a student at UC Berkeley and a summer in Nashville.
Watch the Newark Minutemen audiobook trailer with "Fire In Our Hearts" here.
Listen to "Fire in Our Hearts" now on SoundCloud here.
Add to you Spotfiy here.
More about Newark Minutemen:
Newark Minutemen is based on the incredible true story from the 1930s about a Jewish boxer who goes undercover for the mob and FBI to fight fascism in New Jersey during the Great Depression. It was a time when America remained complacent as Hitler spread racial hatred in Europe, and his fanatics could brashly goose-step down American streets waving twin Swastika and US flags, led by Fuhrer Fritz Kuhn. The Newark Minutemen were a band of Jewish boxers who rose up to fight this Nazi shadow party and, perhaps the greatest enemy of all, American complacency about this looming evil.
The novel is based on the real-life experiences of author Leslie K. Barry’s uncle, a Newark Minuteman boxer. The story was pieced together from first-hand accounts from Barry’s 93-year old mother and her cousin, FBI reports, boxes of undercover source material and years of research.
Read more about Leslie K. Barry’s novel Newark Minutemen here.
Facebook: Newark Minutemen Twitter: @NMinutemen
Order: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, Bookshop
For more information including interviews with Shaya and Leslie K. Barry contact: owen@thoughtgangmedia.com
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-re...
February 23, 2021
DISCOVERY MUST READ REVIEW
Must read 🏆
Required reading for anyone unaware of the very real danger posed by the American Bund Nazi Party in the late 1930s.
SYNOPSIS
#1 Amazon bestseller and soon to be motion picture, Newark Minutemen has bridged generations. The epic based-on-true story of forbidden love and unholy heroism is set against the backdrop of an America ripped apart by the Great Depression and on the brink of war.
Newark, NJ, 1938. Millions are out of work and robbed of dignity. A shadow Hitler-Nazi party called the German-American Bund that is led by an American Fuhrer threatens to swallow democracy. In this dangerous time of star-spangled fascism, a romance forms between the Jewish boxer, Yael and the daughter of the enemy, Krista. But 1930s America pulls them apart as Krista’s people want Yael’s dead. Then Yael is recruited by the mob to go undercover for the FBI against her people and bring down the German-American Bund. Author Leslie K. Barry captures an authentic and brave portrait of a lost America searching for identity, preserving legacy and saving its soul. It is a heartbreaking novel that crosses generations as it honors the fragility of freedom.
I was intrigued by the plot of this book and immediately recognized the importance of the content. Choosing to address rising fascism by taking a look back at how close Nazism came to ravaging America in the late 1930s provided a clarity that I can only wish was shared by more people. The author goes as far as to say this is part of the reason for her exploration of this material. Though we should never feel guilt for what our ancestors may have done, I admit I would feel proud to know that I had a relative who was a part of the Newark Minutemen.
It’s a story about immigrants and the melting pot that is America. It’s about the importance of fighting for democracy and the right for everyone to live their lives freely. It’s about the urgency of always remembering history because it will inevitably repeat itself. The only way we can prevent future calamities is by being aware of those that happened in the past. We must always be aware of those who will use patriotism to mask their own selfish desires to be worshipped, to be dictators, to be gods.
Often, the book was difficult to read because the racism permeated everything. There were lynchings (after carving a swastika into the chest of one victim), rape of young girls, abusive fathers and husbands-to-be, and honestly, I was just astounded by the things I had never learned in history classes. At numerous times, I physically recoiled and had to take a break from reading. The history of Nazis that we learn has been sanitized because it is so horrific, and I suspect we fear teaching our children would scar them. But that may be what is needed because the lessons of history are so quickly forgotten and remembering may be one of the most important tasks of society.
Some of the similarities to the past and today were too obvious to ignore. The two slogans of the American Bund Nazi Party were MAKE AMERICA GREAT and AMERICA FIRST!! The American Nazis often spoke of Der Tag, the day that was coming that Germany would rise up around the world and take power, a little too similar to The Storm for my tastes. I can’t help but think that if we made more of an effort to educate new generations, we might more quickly recognize the clues when evil next rears its head. We might take it more seriously and we might make more of an effort to obliterate it before it grows and infects more people.
The narrative was a bit off-putting from the beginning, and if I’m being honest, every time the story switched to Yael’s POV, because he dropped the g’s off of words. I understand it is probably because the author wanted his voice to be unique, but for me, this kind of thing only works in dialogue. And the other POVs did not really differ significantly from one another. I think it would have been better to change POVs without changing the voice too drastically (if at all). There was also a scene in which Yael took a “selfie” of himself and Krista in the mirror. I don’t think “selfie” was a term familiar to anyone at that time so I was immediately pulled out of the story. Also, there were a couple of times, usually at the end of a chapter, when the concluding action was described in a way that was unclear to me. It seemed like an effort to be creative, but for me, it was just confusing.
It was astounding to read about people freely trading in freedom for the promise of prosperity and the cleansing of the unwanted. Some people prefer to be told what to do and what to think. But then, as stated at one point, “...a dictator isn’t gonna tell you he’s a dictator before you vote for him.” And, of course, even once they are in power, some of the people will continue to love the dictator. Until he comes for them.
Aside from being a depiction of the Nazi movement in the United States, this is also a love story between Yael and Krista. There were a few exchanges that stood out to me and I feel are worth pointing out. Krista tried to describe to Yael the way of the Nazi American party, the Bund, who believed they were saving America. Yael responded: “Your way uses our flags to clean toilets and claims that’s patriotic because you made ‘em shine.” There were many times when the flags displayed at the Nazi events were the American flag side-by-side with the Nazi flag (though usually with the swastika above the and the US flag below). They tried to take the US flag and merge it with the Nazi flag (mixing red, white, and blue into the Nazi flag), almost as if to ease the transition, as if they could slowly switch to only the Nazi flag and no one would notice. The American Nazis got their weapons for free from the NRA and joined the National Guard so they could get free training to use the weapons and learn combat techniques. It’s not so very different from the NRA getting funding from foreign governments to fight for the rights of militias, and the police and military of the US infiltrated by white supremacists.
Krista, who was born in Germany, has been brainwashed by her Nazi father and older sister. She is treated as nothing more than a potentially fertile woman (since she is not yet 18). At one point, standing in a room listening to the men talk, she thinks, “For a second, I think that the men have forgotten about me. I’m just standing here like the k in know.”
Yael is the young Jewish boy whose parents escaped the horrors of Russia to find a better life in America. He works for Longie Zwillerman, the Jewish mobster in Newark NJ, who bankrolls the Newark Minutemen. Longie talks to Yael about his parents and how they wanted more for him saying, “‘Keep their dream alive, and they’ll be with you every day and help you know who you are. This is your legacy.’ He pats me on the shoulder and then withdraws into the darkness to give me light.” (I absolutely loved that last sentence!)
In explaining the importance of the number eight (for reasons that become clear in the book), Longie states, “Eight is one rung above normal.” He then goes on to explain that there are seven days in week, seven notes in music, seven seas, seven holes in your head, but eight is just one better. Hanukkah is eight days, the lamp oil lasting longer than it should have. “Eight is courage that pushes men beyond normal...Eight leaders of the Newark Minutemen.”
In addition to telling a riveting story, Barry also includes some bits of poetry and I especially liked this part: “...the skyline smears before me like smashed, runny eggs.” I also found this to be an exceedingly clever simile: “I move my eyes across the massive crowd like I’m searchin’ for a typo in a newspaper.”
I recommend the book. It’s a difficult read, if you have a heart, but it is compelling and I might go so far as to say necessary.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
REVIEWED BY
Elizabeth Connor
https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/new...
Required reading for anyone unaware of the very real danger posed by the American Bund Nazi Party in the late 1930s.
SYNOPSIS
#1 Amazon bestseller and soon to be motion picture, Newark Minutemen has bridged generations. The epic based-on-true story of forbidden love and unholy heroism is set against the backdrop of an America ripped apart by the Great Depression and on the brink of war.
Newark, NJ, 1938. Millions are out of work and robbed of dignity. A shadow Hitler-Nazi party called the German-American Bund that is led by an American Fuhrer threatens to swallow democracy. In this dangerous time of star-spangled fascism, a romance forms between the Jewish boxer, Yael and the daughter of the enemy, Krista. But 1930s America pulls them apart as Krista’s people want Yael’s dead. Then Yael is recruited by the mob to go undercover for the FBI against her people and bring down the German-American Bund. Author Leslie K. Barry captures an authentic and brave portrait of a lost America searching for identity, preserving legacy and saving its soul. It is a heartbreaking novel that crosses generations as it honors the fragility of freedom.
I was intrigued by the plot of this book and immediately recognized the importance of the content. Choosing to address rising fascism by taking a look back at how close Nazism came to ravaging America in the late 1930s provided a clarity that I can only wish was shared by more people. The author goes as far as to say this is part of the reason for her exploration of this material. Though we should never feel guilt for what our ancestors may have done, I admit I would feel proud to know that I had a relative who was a part of the Newark Minutemen.
It’s a story about immigrants and the melting pot that is America. It’s about the importance of fighting for democracy and the right for everyone to live their lives freely. It’s about the urgency of always remembering history because it will inevitably repeat itself. The only way we can prevent future calamities is by being aware of those that happened in the past. We must always be aware of those who will use patriotism to mask their own selfish desires to be worshipped, to be dictators, to be gods.
Often, the book was difficult to read because the racism permeated everything. There were lynchings (after carving a swastika into the chest of one victim), rape of young girls, abusive fathers and husbands-to-be, and honestly, I was just astounded by the things I had never learned in history classes. At numerous times, I physically recoiled and had to take a break from reading. The history of Nazis that we learn has been sanitized because it is so horrific, and I suspect we fear teaching our children would scar them. But that may be what is needed because the lessons of history are so quickly forgotten and remembering may be one of the most important tasks of society.
Some of the similarities to the past and today were too obvious to ignore. The two slogans of the American Bund Nazi Party were MAKE AMERICA GREAT and AMERICA FIRST!! The American Nazis often spoke of Der Tag, the day that was coming that Germany would rise up around the world and take power, a little too similar to The Storm for my tastes. I can’t help but think that if we made more of an effort to educate new generations, we might more quickly recognize the clues when evil next rears its head. We might take it more seriously and we might make more of an effort to obliterate it before it grows and infects more people.
The narrative was a bit off-putting from the beginning, and if I’m being honest, every time the story switched to Yael’s POV, because he dropped the g’s off of words. I understand it is probably because the author wanted his voice to be unique, but for me, this kind of thing only works in dialogue. And the other POVs did not really differ significantly from one another. I think it would have been better to change POVs without changing the voice too drastically (if at all). There was also a scene in which Yael took a “selfie” of himself and Krista in the mirror. I don’t think “selfie” was a term familiar to anyone at that time so I was immediately pulled out of the story. Also, there were a couple of times, usually at the end of a chapter, when the concluding action was described in a way that was unclear to me. It seemed like an effort to be creative, but for me, it was just confusing.
It was astounding to read about people freely trading in freedom for the promise of prosperity and the cleansing of the unwanted. Some people prefer to be told what to do and what to think. But then, as stated at one point, “...a dictator isn’t gonna tell you he’s a dictator before you vote for him.” And, of course, even once they are in power, some of the people will continue to love the dictator. Until he comes for them.
Aside from being a depiction of the Nazi movement in the United States, this is also a love story between Yael and Krista. There were a few exchanges that stood out to me and I feel are worth pointing out. Krista tried to describe to Yael the way of the Nazi American party, the Bund, who believed they were saving America. Yael responded: “Your way uses our flags to clean toilets and claims that’s patriotic because you made ‘em shine.” There were many times when the flags displayed at the Nazi events were the American flag side-by-side with the Nazi flag (though usually with the swastika above the and the US flag below). They tried to take the US flag and merge it with the Nazi flag (mixing red, white, and blue into the Nazi flag), almost as if to ease the transition, as if they could slowly switch to only the Nazi flag and no one would notice. The American Nazis got their weapons for free from the NRA and joined the National Guard so they could get free training to use the weapons and learn combat techniques. It’s not so very different from the NRA getting funding from foreign governments to fight for the rights of militias, and the police and military of the US infiltrated by white supremacists.
Krista, who was born in Germany, has been brainwashed by her Nazi father and older sister. She is treated as nothing more than a potentially fertile woman (since she is not yet 18). At one point, standing in a room listening to the men talk, she thinks, “For a second, I think that the men have forgotten about me. I’m just standing here like the k in know.”
Yael is the young Jewish boy whose parents escaped the horrors of Russia to find a better life in America. He works for Longie Zwillerman, the Jewish mobster in Newark NJ, who bankrolls the Newark Minutemen. Longie talks to Yael about his parents and how they wanted more for him saying, “‘Keep their dream alive, and they’ll be with you every day and help you know who you are. This is your legacy.’ He pats me on the shoulder and then withdraws into the darkness to give me light.” (I absolutely loved that last sentence!)
In explaining the importance of the number eight (for reasons that become clear in the book), Longie states, “Eight is one rung above normal.” He then goes on to explain that there are seven days in week, seven notes in music, seven seas, seven holes in your head, but eight is just one better. Hanukkah is eight days, the lamp oil lasting longer than it should have. “Eight is courage that pushes men beyond normal...Eight leaders of the Newark Minutemen.”
In addition to telling a riveting story, Barry also includes some bits of poetry and I especially liked this part: “...the skyline smears before me like smashed, runny eggs.” I also found this to be an exceedingly clever simile: “I move my eyes across the massive crowd like I’m searchin’ for a typo in a newspaper.”
I recommend the book. It’s a difficult read, if you have a heart, but it is compelling and I might go so far as to say necessary.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
REVIEWED BY
Elizabeth Connor
https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/new...
January 28, 2021
Driven By Avenge
Barnes and Noble customer: Bbefron
Why won’t America wake up? After 5 years of living with the memory of his father’s twitching legs bounce against the old bootlegging boat and the rope squeezing the skin under his 5 o’clock shadow, the revenge pounds Yael’s head like a hammer. But it’s the charred Swastika on his Pop’s chalky chest that shapes avenge like sculptor’s hands and soothes his pain.
In America, the Great Depression has robbed many of their dignity. And make men consider alternatives to democracy, like the fascists in Germany that play on the newsreels in the film theaters, now close enough to walk to from any Newark apartment. But as eighteen-year-old Yael punches his best friend above the Star of David on Harry’s boxing shorts, he knows exactly where he is going. He has joined the resistance of Jewish boxers called Newark Minutemen. They work for MobKing Longie Zwillman down in the third ward fighting against the Nazi soldiers marching down Main Streets with their hands saluted in the air. If the FBI is willing to pay the Jewish mafia under the table to topple Hitler’s German American satellite called the Bund, it’s almost too late. But between first amendment rights and the divide between those who refuse to go into another war and those who just want food on the table, there’s no choice. Hands are tied.
Yael’s choice to fight is simple. That is until he gets hit with a right hook of emotions for Krista, the daughter of the Nazi party leader. His friends warn him not to cross the line, but when he goes undercover and trains to become the Bund’s secret police, the horrors drive him to rescue Krista from her Nazi youth camp in Long Island. But between her betrothed Nazi officer and a foreign culture, the star crossed affair is doomed for failure.
Newarkminutemen.Com
Why won’t America wake up? After 5 years of living with the memory of his father’s twitching legs bounce against the old bootlegging boat and the rope squeezing the skin under his 5 o’clock shadow, the revenge pounds Yael’s head like a hammer. But it’s the charred Swastika on his Pop’s chalky chest that shapes avenge like sculptor’s hands and soothes his pain.
In America, the Great Depression has robbed many of their dignity. And make men consider alternatives to democracy, like the fascists in Germany that play on the newsreels in the film theaters, now close enough to walk to from any Newark apartment. But as eighteen-year-old Yael punches his best friend above the Star of David on Harry’s boxing shorts, he knows exactly where he is going. He has joined the resistance of Jewish boxers called Newark Minutemen. They work for MobKing Longie Zwillman down in the third ward fighting against the Nazi soldiers marching down Main Streets with their hands saluted in the air. If the FBI is willing to pay the Jewish mafia under the table to topple Hitler’s German American satellite called the Bund, it’s almost too late. But between first amendment rights and the divide between those who refuse to go into another war and those who just want food on the table, there’s no choice. Hands are tied.
Yael’s choice to fight is simple. That is until he gets hit with a right hook of emotions for Krista, the daughter of the Nazi party leader. His friends warn him not to cross the line, but when he goes undercover and trains to become the Bund’s secret police, the horrors drive him to rescue Krista from her Nazi youth camp in Long Island. But between her betrothed Nazi officer and a foreign culture, the star crossed affair is doomed for failure.
Newarkminutemen.Com
December 24, 2020
When do you resist Freedom of Expression?
As many of you know, I have recently authored a novel called Newark Minutemen about my Uncle who was a 1930s Jewish boxer who fought German American Nazis for a an organization called the Newark Minutemen formed by the mob and government.
Because of first amendment rights, the governments hands were tied as Hitler actively fostered a satellite party in America. The government approached the mob and asked for help and the Newark Minutemen were deployed as a resistance group.
Should Free expression be interpreted to allow hate groups to prosper? Is it better to have hate groups functioning in the sunlight where decent people can see them, rather than drive them underground? And most importantly, how would you react if you woke up one day, and saw hundreds of Nazis, or members of Al Qaida, or Klansmen, or some other declared enemy of the United States marching proudly.
Where do you draw the line? After all, freedom of speech is the cornerstone of democracy.
Freedom of Speech advocates often limit this right by measuring the harm it causes. In 1919, the American Supreme Court judge Oliver Wendell Holmes pointed out that ‘The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.’
The challenge is that the “harm” argument often spirals out of control. Does harm mean inciting violence? Does it mean slander? Does it mean a threat to our country? Or is it language that raises feelings around hate, violence or suicide?
One answer rests on reading the intention of the language. If the language is creating conditions to think through problems and challenge ourselves to understand other’s viewpoints, then freedom of speech can be justified.
Because of first amendment rights, the governments hands were tied as Hitler actively fostered a satellite party in America. The government approached the mob and asked for help and the Newark Minutemen were deployed as a resistance group.
Should Free expression be interpreted to allow hate groups to prosper? Is it better to have hate groups functioning in the sunlight where decent people can see them, rather than drive them underground? And most importantly, how would you react if you woke up one day, and saw hundreds of Nazis, or members of Al Qaida, or Klansmen, or some other declared enemy of the United States marching proudly.
Where do you draw the line? After all, freedom of speech is the cornerstone of democracy.
Freedom of Speech advocates often limit this right by measuring the harm it causes. In 1919, the American Supreme Court judge Oliver Wendell Holmes pointed out that ‘The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.’
The challenge is that the “harm” argument often spirals out of control. Does harm mean inciting violence? Does it mean slander? Does it mean a threat to our country? Or is it language that raises feelings around hate, violence or suicide?
One answer rests on reading the intention of the language. If the language is creating conditions to think through problems and challenge ourselves to understand other’s viewpoints, then freedom of speech can be justified.
November 29, 2020
How genealogy clues transformed dates and documents into a best selling book and soon to be film
Until the recent pandemic pause, everything moved fast. It was hard to get to know even our family. But now we have stopped for a moment to use our voices and hear what we stand for and be with our families. We have taken the time to understand why those before us made certain decisions and how we are shaped as a result of these decisions today.
In the early twentieth century, influxes of desperate people fleeing famines, wars, natural disasters and persecution migrated to America. Delving into your family tree can uncover blockbuster movie-type stories.
In the based on true story and soon to be film, Newark Minutemen, Leslie K. Barry found just that heroic story that is garnering attention around the world. She was able to discover a trove of archives that allowed her to build family trees for her based on true characters to authentically bring them to life and place them in a historical context.
A few years ago, at her Mom’s 90th birthday, Barry uncovered a story that possessed her. She listened over shoulders as Her Mom and her cousins exchanged stories about her Mom’s older brother, Harry, who was a Jewish boxer. But the secrets were much deeper than the golden glove trophy signaled. Harry was a Newark Minuteman, a title given to a group of boxers under the leadership of the Jewish mob who partnered with the FBI between World War I and II to battle fascism in America.
With the help of family tree research and connection she puzzled the story together. Each turn led her to real life heroes and villains, each of whom she built family trees. As she connected the people with their histories, in her imagination she could ride the trolley with them past theaters, delis and butchers. She could share music from the Victoria, throw a ball in the Big Yard, smell baking bread in the third ward of Newark and breathe in the winter air. She got to know know her characters as if they were family:
-MobKing Longie Zwillman known as the Gatsby of Gangsters, who controlled and protected his people in Newark. He hired the neighborhood unemployed, secured visas for Europeans and set up soup kitchens for the hungry.
-Fuhrer Fritz Kuhn, the American Hitler that controlled the rising German-American Nazi party. His arrogance had him dancing with mistresses in the forbidden jazz clubs and smuggling in Nazi uniforms.
-Yael, based on real life, John Metcalfe of Chicago and his brother Jim. The brothers went undercover and joined the Bund’s secret police and then wrote a 14 page newspaper serial about the exploits
-Krista, based on Helen Vooros of Brooklyn who as part of an effort to increase the Aryan population in America, was raped in the American Nazi Youth Camp in Long island.
-Other Campers who testified in Congressional hearings who claimed that the German American Nazi aims were focused on conquest of America and linked to espionage.
-cameos of and real dialogue from Frank Sinatra, mafia men, boxers, Mayor Epstein and LaGuardia, news celebrities Dorothy Thompson’s and Walter Winchell.
-And Barry’s own family; Her Uncle Harry, her mother Esther, Her grandparents Isaac and Lena. They moved around town five times in a decade, studies at Weequahic high school and housed family escaping from Nazis.
She was able to build accurate timelines from census, news stories, passports, and vital records. She was able to collect news articles, photos, videos, diaries, family stories, government papers to put flesh on the bones. Through genealogical tools and platforms, She was able to find and connect with archives and FBI documents that validated the ancestral stories and documents.
And then she was able to connect with the families of the characters she “met” during the family searches.
The results are a visceral connection with characters as a reader experiences a very personal battle with identity that really make the tale stand out. This struggle is voiced best by Krista when she describes her family and community.
“I study them in turn – the way Axel’s shoulder twitches when he’s tense, how Fuhrer Kuhn’s forehead wrinkles when he frowns, how my father’s nose flares when he’s angry, how Heidi swipes her tongue across her lips when she’s nervous. These mannerisms are familiar. They remind me of me.” She wonders: “What am I without them? Who am I alone?”
The answer: “No one.”
Or Yael’s attachment to his father when he says,
“After an awkward moment, Pop pulls the bag, along with me into his arms for a hug. “Danks my son. I would have frozen and starved. Then what good would I be to Mr. Zwillman?” He slides the suitcase and pumps my cap over my eyes and back up again. The crows feet that bloom into a dozen crinkles around his eyes when he smiles warm me. When my father smiles, nothing in the world can hurt me.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
In the early twentieth century, influxes of desperate people fleeing famines, wars, natural disasters and persecution migrated to America. Delving into your family tree can uncover blockbuster movie-type stories.
In the based on true story and soon to be film, Newark Minutemen, Leslie K. Barry found just that heroic story that is garnering attention around the world. She was able to discover a trove of archives that allowed her to build family trees for her based on true characters to authentically bring them to life and place them in a historical context.
A few years ago, at her Mom’s 90th birthday, Barry uncovered a story that possessed her. She listened over shoulders as Her Mom and her cousins exchanged stories about her Mom’s older brother, Harry, who was a Jewish boxer. But the secrets were much deeper than the golden glove trophy signaled. Harry was a Newark Minuteman, a title given to a group of boxers under the leadership of the Jewish mob who partnered with the FBI between World War I and II to battle fascism in America.
With the help of family tree research and connection she puzzled the story together. Each turn led her to real life heroes and villains, each of whom she built family trees. As she connected the people with their histories, in her imagination she could ride the trolley with them past theaters, delis and butchers. She could share music from the Victoria, throw a ball in the Big Yard, smell baking bread in the third ward of Newark and breathe in the winter air. She got to know know her characters as if they were family:
-MobKing Longie Zwillman known as the Gatsby of Gangsters, who controlled and protected his people in Newark. He hired the neighborhood unemployed, secured visas for Europeans and set up soup kitchens for the hungry.
-Fuhrer Fritz Kuhn, the American Hitler that controlled the rising German-American Nazi party. His arrogance had him dancing with mistresses in the forbidden jazz clubs and smuggling in Nazi uniforms.
-Yael, based on real life, John Metcalfe of Chicago and his brother Jim. The brothers went undercover and joined the Bund’s secret police and then wrote a 14 page newspaper serial about the exploits
-Krista, based on Helen Vooros of Brooklyn who as part of an effort to increase the Aryan population in America, was raped in the American Nazi Youth Camp in Long island.
-Other Campers who testified in Congressional hearings who claimed that the German American Nazi aims were focused on conquest of America and linked to espionage.
-cameos of and real dialogue from Frank Sinatra, mafia men, boxers, Mayor Epstein and LaGuardia, news celebrities Dorothy Thompson’s and Walter Winchell.
-And Barry’s own family; Her Uncle Harry, her mother Esther, Her grandparents Isaac and Lena. They moved around town five times in a decade, studies at Weequahic high school and housed family escaping from Nazis.
She was able to build accurate timelines from census, news stories, passports, and vital records. She was able to collect news articles, photos, videos, diaries, family stories, government papers to put flesh on the bones. Through genealogical tools and platforms, She was able to find and connect with archives and FBI documents that validated the ancestral stories and documents.
And then she was able to connect with the families of the characters she “met” during the family searches.
The results are a visceral connection with characters as a reader experiences a very personal battle with identity that really make the tale stand out. This struggle is voiced best by Krista when she describes her family and community.
“I study them in turn – the way Axel’s shoulder twitches when he’s tense, how Fuhrer Kuhn’s forehead wrinkles when he frowns, how my father’s nose flares when he’s angry, how Heidi swipes her tongue across her lips when she’s nervous. These mannerisms are familiar. They remind me of me.” She wonders: “What am I without them? Who am I alone?”
The answer: “No one.”
Or Yael’s attachment to his father when he says,
“After an awkward moment, Pop pulls the bag, along with me into his arms for a hug. “Danks my son. I would have frozen and starved. Then what good would I be to Mr. Zwillman?” He slides the suitcase and pumps my cap over my eyes and back up again. The crows feet that bloom into a dozen crinkles around his eyes when he smiles warm me. When my father smiles, nothing in the world can hurt me.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/163195...
November 28, 2020
Amazon Customer A cinematic tale
Amazon Customer
A cinematic tale
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2020
Although it is a novel, Newark Minutemen is based on a true story, one the author, Leslie Barry, learned from her family. Uncle Harry was more than just a boxer in Newark in the 1930s, he was also a Newark Minuteman, a title given to a group of boxers under the leadership of the Jewish mob who partnered with the FBI between World War I and II to battle fascism in America. The terminology used by the American Nazis – Make America Great – will sound familiar to contemporary readers. The insight the main characters possess at times also sounds familiar, as if they somehow know the outcome of the war before it has even begun. Contemporary readers may find this makes it easier for them to relate to the characters.
What will no doubt come as a surprise are the details to which the American Nazi party was able to infiltrate America. More than two dozen camps trained youth in Hitler’s ideology, there was an American Führer and weapons were weaseled from the unsuspecting NRA and National Guard. Other details, although less important, are what make the world between the wars come alive. There is a penny slipped under a wobbly table leg, whiskey placed in a cat dish and a particular cologne that is shared by two characters. Of the boxers, Barry says: “There’s endless stories behind each scar on their bodies.”
The book is cinematic, with clear good and bad guys and plenty of action. This will probably make it quite appealing to a younger demographic. That the main protagonists, Yael and Krista, first appear as children also lends itself to a younger readership. But cameos by Frank Sinatra and famous mob bosses and politicians of the time will appeal to an older crowd. The love story is a West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, set in a very different time and place. It is the characters and their very personal battle with identity that really make the tale stand out. This struggle is voiced best by Krista when she describes her family and community.
“I study them in turn – the way Axel’s shoulder twitches when he’s tense, how Fuhrer Kuhn’s forehead wrinkles when he frowns, how my father’s nose flares when he’s angry, how Heidi swipes her tongue across her lops when she’s nervous. These mannerisms are familiar. They remind me of me.” She wonders: “What am I without them? Who am I alone?”
The answer: “No one.”
A cinematic tale
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2020
Although it is a novel, Newark Minutemen is based on a true story, one the author, Leslie Barry, learned from her family. Uncle Harry was more than just a boxer in Newark in the 1930s, he was also a Newark Minuteman, a title given to a group of boxers under the leadership of the Jewish mob who partnered with the FBI between World War I and II to battle fascism in America. The terminology used by the American Nazis – Make America Great – will sound familiar to contemporary readers. The insight the main characters possess at times also sounds familiar, as if they somehow know the outcome of the war before it has even begun. Contemporary readers may find this makes it easier for them to relate to the characters.
What will no doubt come as a surprise are the details to which the American Nazi party was able to infiltrate America. More than two dozen camps trained youth in Hitler’s ideology, there was an American Führer and weapons were weaseled from the unsuspecting NRA and National Guard. Other details, although less important, are what make the world between the wars come alive. There is a penny slipped under a wobbly table leg, whiskey placed in a cat dish and a particular cologne that is shared by two characters. Of the boxers, Barry says: “There’s endless stories behind each scar on their bodies.”
The book is cinematic, with clear good and bad guys and plenty of action. This will probably make it quite appealing to a younger demographic. That the main protagonists, Yael and Krista, first appear as children also lends itself to a younger readership. But cameos by Frank Sinatra and famous mob bosses and politicians of the time will appeal to an older crowd. The love story is a West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, set in a very different time and place. It is the characters and their very personal battle with identity that really make the tale stand out. This struggle is voiced best by Krista when she describes her family and community.
“I study them in turn – the way Axel’s shoulder twitches when he’s tense, how Fuhrer Kuhn’s forehead wrinkles when he frowns, how my father’s nose flares when he’s angry, how Heidi swipes her tongue across her lops when she’s nervous. These mannerisms are familiar. They remind me of me.” She wonders: “What am I without them? Who am I alone?”
The answer: “No one.”
