"A New York Times bestselling author traces her father's life from turn-of-the-century Warsaw to bustling New York City in an intimate memoir about family, memory, and the stories we tell. Long before she was the acclaimed author of a groundbreaking book about women and men, and praised by Oliver Sacks as having "a novelist's ear for the way people speak," Deborah Tannen was a little girl who adored her father. Though he was often absent during her childhood, Deborah was profoundly influenced by his love of language and gift for writing and storytelling. As she grew up and he grew old, she spent untold hours with her father, recording their conversations and taking notes. He handed her a journal he kept when he was young--and showed her another he said she could have after his death, all for the account of his life she promised him she'd write. In this memoir, Deborah fulfills her promise to her father, embarking on the poignant, yet perilous, quest to piece together the puzzle of her father's life. Beginning with his astonishingly vivid memories of the Hasidic community in Warsaw that he was born into in 1908, she traces his journey: arriving in New York City in 1920, he quit high school at fourteen to become sole support of his mother and sister, yet attended law school at night and eventually established the largest workmen's compensation practice in New York. In the intervening years, he became active in the Communist Party, then New York's Liberal Party, running for Congress on its ticket. As Deborah comes to better understand her father's--and her own--relationship to Judaism, she also uncovers aspects of her father's life she would never have imagined. When she discovers letters from another woman he might have married, she is forced to rethink her assumptions about her parents' marriage. Finding My Father is a memoir of Eli Tannen's life and the ways it reflects the near century that he lived. But even more than that, it's about a daughter's struggle to see her father clearly, to know him more deeply, and to tell a more truthful story about her family and herself."--

Acclaim for Leo Melamed Escape to the Futures "A well-written, fascinating memoir of a remarkable man of many parts, who arrived in the United States at age 9, fleeing the Holocaust. Almost single-handedly, he transformed a minor commodity exchange into the leading futures market in the world. His influence was and remains worldwide." —Milton Friedman Senior Research Fellow Hoover Institution, Stanford University "There are only a few people who have revolutionized big portions of the business world. Warren Buffett did it in investing, Bill Gates in software. Leo Melamed, author of this book, is in that same league. He truly revolutionized futures trading in the United States, and in the world. This book tells how." —Ambassador Clayton Yeutter Past President of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Former U.S. Trade Representative "A grizzled old Merc trader once assured me that nobody ever lost by being long on Leo. Why that's so, this endlessly fascinating personal history makes clear. It shows how an immigrant boy, after surviving unimaginable horrors, drew on the 'elan, combativeness, and sophisticated conviction' learned from his equally remarkable father to build the CME and to lay the foundations of the modern, Chicago-based, financial services industry." — Merton H. Miller 1990 Nobel Laureate Emeritus Professor University of Chicago Graduate School of Business "Leo tells it all. To say there would not have been a financial futures industry without Leo is probably only a slight exaggeration!!!" — John Damgard President Futures Industry Association "Escape to the Futures tells the remarkable story of a young boy's escape from the Nazis and the impact of his life on the financial markets of the world. It also serves as yet another poignant reminder of the immeasurable losses —in the arts, sciences, professions, and everyday life—humanity suffered because of the Holocaust." — Benjamin Meed President American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors He is one of the most powerful figures in the world of finance—a visionary who pioneered the modern futures industry and launched the International Monetary Market (IMM). Yet, Leo Melamed was not born to wealth and influence. His is an extraordinary rags-to-riches tale of intelligence, drive, savvy, timing, and the overpowering force of a uniquely charismatic personality. Now the inside story of the remarkable life and career of Leo Melamed is revealed in this long-awaited autobiography. A Holocaust survivor, Leo Melamed had barely begun the first grade in 1939 when he and his parents fled their native Poland one step ahead of the oncoming Nazi juggernaut. Crossing Siberia en route to a brief stay in Japan—just months before Pearl Harbor—the family arrived in the United States to begin life anew. They settled in Chicago, where young Leo became a product of the inner city and embraced his new country and its culture. Seeking part-time employment while attending law school, Leo Melamed answered a classified ad that would change his life. Hired by what he presumed was a law firm named Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Bean, he found himself on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. "I was Alice stepping through the Looking Glass into a world of not just one Mad Hatter, but hundreds. The shouting among the traders, the movement of their bodies and hands, captivated me like nothing before . . . there was a life force on that floor that was magical and exciting, and though I didn't understand what was going on, I wanted to be a part of it." Leo Melamed became much more than just a part of it. From modest beginnings as a pork belly trader, he led the Chicago Merc for the next quarter of a century, introducing finance to an industry that was the exclusive domain of agriculture. As his reputation as a financial genius grew, so did the tales of his larger-than-life personality. In Leo Melamed: Escape to the Futures, you'll meet the man behind the legend. Written with the assistance of award-winning journalist Bob Tamarkin, this enthralling memoir deftly weaves intimate personal details with behind-the-scenes accounts of some of the most momentous financial events of our century—including Leo's role as advisor to the White House after the Hillary Rodham Clinton cattle futures trading episode. You'll read fascinating accounts of his dealings with political powerhouses like Bob Dole, Tip O'Neill, Dan Rostenkowski, and others. Offering penetrating insights into the workings of a multibillion dollar industry, this is a story that has as much to say about human nature as it does about the nature of today's markets. Hailed as both hero and tyrant, Leo Melamed is undeniably one of the most colorful and intriguing personalities of our time. This intimate, revealing personal account is not to be missed.

Upon arriving at the kibbutz, after years of running and living in a constant state of fear and anxiety, I finally felt that I could unburden my heart and mind. I had dreamed of the day I would arrive, alive, in Eretz Israel. The constant stress of the last few years was made easier by my constant desire to achieve that goal. So, when I first arrived in the kibbutz dining hall, it was as if all my dreams had come true. David J. Azrieli was born in 1922 in Maków Mazowiecki, Poland. Written by his daughter Danna, this gripping account of survival during World War II describes David’s extraordinary travels, always just one step ahead of life-threatening danger, which took him to the Soviet-occupied zones of Poland and later to Ukraine, Tashkent, and Buchara. He subsequently served in the Anders Army, before making his way from Baghdad to the frontiers of British-occupied Palestine. The memoir chronicles David J. Azrieli’s arrival in Palestine, his studies at the Technion in Haifa, his experiences as a soldier in the War of Independence, and his realization that most of his immediate family had perished in the Holocaust. Azrieli finally settled in Canada in 1954. There he married his wife, Stephanie, and together they raised four children—Rafi, Sharon, Naomi, and Danna. This story of survival is all the more remarkable given Azrieli’s later achievements as a successful real estate developer and philanthropist. One of the economic giants of the Jewish world, his many developments changed the face of Israel and stand as a striking testament to the strength and courage of a boy whom Hitler could not defeat. The highlight of his activities is the establishment of the Canadian and Israeli Azrieli Foundations, which focus on improving the lives of present and future generations through education, research, healthcare, and arts. -- page 4 of cover.