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Steve Israel, a former U.S. representative from New York, visited the Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix on Monday evening, Feb. 16, for a sit-down discussion with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego regarding his newest book “The Einstein Conspiracy.”
Leaders in the local Jewish community were also in attendance, as the book explores true events that affected American Jews in the 1930s, in addition to political leaders that included Maricopa County Democratic Party Chair Patti O’Neil and the inaugural Phoenix Mayor’s Office Official Historian Steve Schumacher.
Gallego previously visited Changing Hands to read a proclamation on April 1, 2024, celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of Arizona’s oldest private bookstores.
“Changing Hands is such an important institution,” Gallego said. “I think we are all united as book lovers and so lucky to have a great independent bookstore. There’s just nothing better than coming together in person when you can talk about great books at this unusual moment in time, and we’re so lucky to have Congressman Steve Israel to provide insight both on our democracy and on his book.”
Israel served in Congress from 2001 to 2017, including four years as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Having served through 9/11, the 2008 economic recession and the volatile political climate around 2016, Israel said he dedicated himself to writing as a means of escaping from the stresses of politics and public service.
“We all need sanctuaries, particularly now, with so much chaos in the world,” he said. “We all need safe places to go to where we can relieve ourselves of tension and controversy. My safe place, for 17 years in Congress, was a bookstore.”
Israel wrote two political satires during his time in Congress: “Big Guns” and “The Global War on Morris.” He described satire as fast-paced and reliant on punchlines, while a historical spy thriller needs to keep things moving and multidimensional.
He chose not to run for reelection to pursue other passions, which included opening Theodore’s Books in his hometown, Oyster Bay, New York.
“I will confess that I became beleaguered with politics, just like so many others, and began wanting to write a good, old-fashioned, historic spy thriller,” Israel said. “I love my history, so I wanted to write something that brought in history but was, at its fundamental level, just a spy thriller. Not to make a point, but to keep people reading.”
Israel said one of his greatest difficulties was keeping his fictional story from becoming a nonfiction retelling of historical events.
“You have a bargain with the reader,” he explained. “You are going to pay me money as an author for a book, and I’m going to keep you turning the pages with enough sprinkling of historical accuracy so that it is plausible, without burdening you with a nonfiction book. That’s not easy to do.”
Israel gained inspiration from reading Ken Follett, John le Carré and Frederick Forsyth in his youth.
“I learned that the Nazis had tried several attempts to assassinate Albert Einstein,” he said. “I learned that Einstein was trying to warn President Roosevelt that Adolf Hitler was developing an atom bomb and would have one before us. I learned that the FBI was overwhelmed in 1939 by a Nazi spy ring operating across the country.”
Israel also visited Einstein’s cottage on the North Fork of Long Island, and he imagined what a great spy thriller he could write while tying in all of those true events.
“I fell in love with Albert Einstein for four years,” he said. “I read everything I could. I read stuff that Albert Einstein wrote and understood none of it. I learned that he was a very complicated, very complex individual.”
Israel learned that Einstein was struggling in the late 1930s after the loss of his wife, Elsa. He felt vulnerable, and his work hit a wall. Einstein realized that the only way to remain influential was to play the part of the absent-minded genius professor.
“He plays up that caricature, not because he wanted to be famous, but because by then, the only thing in the world that he was truly passionate about, that kept him up at night, was Adolf Hitler, and what was going to happen to the population of Germany. So he used his fame in order to advocate for refugees, and to be able to call a member of Congress and advocate on their behalf.”
Israel tracked down many original sources, including the diaries of Dr. Leo Szilard, a Hungarian American and former student of Einstein’s.
Szilard’s diaries prove Einstein’s pacifism and how morally difficult he found it to encourage President Franklin Roosevelt to build a bomb, even despite the knowledge that Hitler was also closing in on a weapon of his own.
Szilard also writes of how Einstein rejected the possibility of creating an atom bomb at all, believing the energy created by splitting an atom would barely power a dim flashlight.
In response, Szilard figured out how to split an atom, traveled to Einstein’s home and showed him the proof. They then wrote the Einstein-Szilard letter to FDR, warning him of the bomb’s possibility and urging him to build it before Hitler could.
Despite their scientific genius, Einstein and Szilard proved to be naive politicians, taking months to find the right way to have their letter delivered. Once it was finally read to Roosevelt in his office in October 1939, a network of scientists came together, beginning what would become known as the Manhattan Project.
The two protagonists in “The Einstein Conspiracy” are FBI agents named Harry Weiss and James Amos, tasked with protecting Einstein from Nazi assassins. Amos was based on a real person — the “manservant” and best friend of Theodore Roosevelt, the only president also from Israel’s hometown.
The real Amos was originally hired to care for Roosevelt’s children, but then became his assistant, bodyguard and personal confidant. Amos was the last person to hear Roosevelt’s voice before his death, and went on to become the FBI’s second Black special agent, taking down Nazi spy rings and Jewish mobs.
When Israel requested information on Amos from the FBI, they could only provide half of a page. “I decided I have to give this guy life,” Israel said.
The antagonist was based on a collection of notorious German spies known to be operating in New York and traveling freely between the U.S. and Germany at the time.
One of Israel’s most chilling realizations he made during his research process was how open and normalized Nazism was in America in 1939.
He wrote about a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City in February 1939, attended by 20,000 people, with swastikas on the walls and copies of “Mein Kampf” available at concession stands. He also learned about pro-Nazi camps spread across America that taught thousands to annihilate Jews and African Americans.
“I didn’t want the book to be preachy. I wanted the book to be entertaining, but I did want to make at least a point that we have to be very careful,” Israel said. “We have a history in this country where we’re willing to tolerate intolerance, and I wanted to remind the American people just how dark it had become in our own neighborhoods.”
Aside from his lifelong fandom of the genre, Israel said he chose to write a historic spy thriller partly because that’s what’s selling right now.
“Trying to make a point in nonfiction is hard to do because there’s a limited universe of people who are interested,” he explained. “Most people are seeking an escape. They get hit over the head with social media, bombarded by politics. In my own experience at Theodore’s, people are looking for something that’s not particularly political, which means that if you want to convey a message, do it in a way that is accessible to readers.”
“It is a fabulous read and a real page turner,” Gallego said. “(Israel) really got into the details of incredible moments in history.”
Israel dedicated this novel to his wife, Carol, and he relished the opportunity to speak about it in Phoenix, where many members of his family currently reside. JN
“The Einstein Conspiracy” is available at Changing Hands Bookstore or Amazon.
