Today will be an historic day in Washington as President Obama welcomes Thein Sein, president of Myanmar (known as Burma). Two years ago, Thein Sein, a general, was sworn into office and officially launched a nominally civilian government after 50 years of military rule. Since then, the door to democracy has widened: Aung San Suu Kyi, the icon of freedom in that country---(once under house ...arrest for nearly two decades) now sits in Parliament; many dissidents have been released from jail, and there have been political and electoral reforms. A few years ago when I was in Burma--- researching “The Scattered Tribe,” (Globe Pequot Press) one didn’t dare mention the name Suu Kyi. Today, Burma is a popular destination of American tourists and the 100-year-old Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue in Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon) remains open every day, including Friday night services now often held because of the influx of tourists. Let’s hope the meeting in Washington is productive and that the road to freedom continues for the people of Myanmar. Check out www.myanmarshalom.com and my blog at www.bengfrank.blogspot.com “I Travel the World.”See More
Monday, May 20, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Today, they are the Czech Republic and Slovakia, once....
“Betrayal. High Drama and Love!” “Klara’s Journey, A Novel.”
May is an important month in the birth of Czechoslovakia
and the ensuing Russian Civil War. Although Czechoslovakia achieved independence on October 28, 1918, the historical setting actually took place in
May, 1918, in an incident at Chelyabinsk in Siberia. Chelyabinsk, the town
where the meteor crashed last year. The incident
in that city in 1918, however, caused
the Czechs to break with the Bolsheviks; seize the Trans-Siberian railway; and
propel the Whites to power east of the Volga. For Klara Rasputnis, the heroine
in my historical novel, Klara’s Journey,”(Marion
Street Press) the incident will have unbelievable consequences for her, for her loved ones and the civil war that tears
Russia apart. Pre-order now! http://bit.ly/WyVSWq for an autographed
copy! Pub Date: June 1, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
opening lines in Klara's Journey, A Novel, by Ben G. Frank, betrayal, high drama, love!
“Klara’s Journey,
A Novel,”: betrayal, high drama, love!
By Ben G. Frank
CHAPTER I, ODESSA, 1917.
“The hell with the Czar.”
“Who said that?”
“I did.”
“Get your books and
get out.”
“The hell with you,
too!” she yells back at the shocked teacher. The stunned class cringes as they
watch the tall, thin teenager dart from her desk and exit the Russian-history
class in School No.1 on Nikolaevsky Boulevard overlooking
the Black Sea port of Odessa.
“What a mouth on
that Jew girl. Off to Siberia with her, like all the other Bolshevik
kikes," sneers instructor Igor Devushkin.
“Now class, as we
were discussing before we were so rudely interrupted, on page 38, as the Czar
said: ‘Where the Russian flag is planted, there it remains forever.’”
•
She is Klara
Rasputnis, daughter of Rev. Gershon Rasputnis.
·
Pre-order now!http://bit.ly/WyVSWq for autographed
copy!
ISBN
9781936863471
Pub Date:
June 1, 2013
Marion Street Press, Portland, Oregon
228 pages, paperback original
$17.95 (CAN $16.95) Distributed by Independent Publishers Group. Also Available as an eBook
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Lest we forget: A little complicated but yesterday, May 7, was VE (Victory in Europe) Day celebrated in Commonwealth Countries, though in the U.S. and Britain, it is May 8. The German military surrender was signed on May 7 in Reims, France, and on May 8 in Berlin. Victory Day in Russia is celebrated May 9, the date of the formal German surrender to Soviet Marshal Zhukov in Berlin. Whatever day cited, remember, fifty to 60 million people perished, including 6 million Jews who were murdered only because they were Jews.
For more info, check out my books, The Scattered Tribe,Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond," (Globe Pequot Press).
For more info, check out my books, The Scattered Tribe,Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond," (Globe Pequot Press).
or "A Travel Guide to Jewish Russia & Ukraine, (Pelican Publishing Co.) and for info on events that formed the USSR,
"Klara's Journey,A Novel, " (Marion Street Press) http://bit.ly/WyVSWq
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Pre-order now!http://bit.ly/WyVSWq for your autographed copy. "Klara's Journey, A Novel"
“Klara’s Journey”: betrayal, high drama, love!
With pre-order, an autographed
inscription by the author!
The story of a 17-year-old-girl, Klara Rasputnis,
who faces adventure, tragedy, murder, warfare, illness, all under the backdrop
of the Russian Revolution.
About the Book:
Klara’s Journey: A
Novel, by Ben G. Frank
(Marion Street Press)
ISBN
9781936863471
Pub
Date: June 1, 2013
228
pages, paperback original $17.95 (CAN $16.95) Distributed by Independent Publishers Group Also Available as an eBook
The Taj Mahal, a ‘teardrop on the face of eternity’ | JPost | Israel News http://t.co/ZpE0OvGN3g via @twitterapi See http://t.co/Akpcpcti6M
Above based on my trip to India as noted in "The Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond," (Globe Pequot Press
·
Thursday, April 4, 2013
WVOX radio interview on "Klara's Journey, A Novel," Marion Street Press.
Here's the link for my interview on Klara's Journey,A Novel, (Marion Street Press) and "The Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond," (Globe Prequot Press) on WVOX, NY.
http://advocates-wvox.com/2013/04.aspx
Klara's Journey and the Scattered Jewish World," with Ben Frank
About the Book:
Klara’s Journey: A
Novel
ISBN 9781936863471
Pub Date: June 1, 2013
Ben G. Frank, author, journalist, is considered one of this country’s most distinguished travel writers and commentators on Jewish communities around the world. With the publication of The Scattered Tribe, Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond, he breaks new ground in reporting on far-flung exotic Jewish outposts. He is the author of A Travel Guide to Jewish Europe 3rd edition, A Travel Guide to Jewish Russia and Ukraine and A Travel Guide to the Jewish Caribbean and South America. (Pelican Publishing Company.)
Frank, a noted Jewish travel writer, traveled through Russia and the Ukraine, Siberia and the Russian Far East, China and Japan, as well as Canada, before writing this historical novel. The telling of the story, the secrets of the Rasputnis family, the deadly struggles of a young girl to find her father, the characters who seek fulfillment in overcoming jealousy and sibling rivalry, make Klara’s Journey, a read about human destiny.
A former newspaper reporter with the New Haven Register and Elizabeth Daily Journal, he has published articles in Hadassah Magazine, Reform Judaism Magazine, National Jewish Monthly of B’nai B’rith, Jewish Frontier, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Jewish Press, Jewish Exponent, Jewish Week, as well as The New Haven Register, Inside Chappaqua Magazine, and Inside Magazine, Philadelphia, PA.
His books have been cited and reviewed in the New York Times, Kirkus Reviews, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post, andFt. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.
Frank has given talks at Jewish Book Fairs, synagogues and temples. His many lectures include, “Tolerance and Identity: Jews in Early New York, 1654–1825,” at the Museum of the City of New York, as well as a talk at the 92nd Street Y. He has appeared on hundreds of radio and TV talk-shows.
He is a B.A., cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and an M.A. graduate of the Center of Israel and Jewish Studies, Columbia University. He has been active in such professional organizations as the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Overseas Press Club, the American Jewish Public Relations Society and the Pacific Area Travel Association.
Frank is president of The Frank Promotion Corp., a public relations firm, specializing in radio-tv talk-shows. He lives with his wife Riva in Palm Beach County, Florida. The couple has two sons, Martin and Monte, and four grandchildren.
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