Len Harris, the new editor of a Baltimore-based ethnic publication, Haskala, the genesis of which is pre-WW II, struggles with an identity crisis as does his journal. The publisher, Bernie Price, son of the late founder, Sidney Price, is determined to dismiss Haskala's ethnic slant and turn largely secular, a move to increase the ad base and readership.Meanwhile, Harris views his job as a pulpit of sorts and refuses to accept his publisher's diminished editorial position on spirituality. A war for space is on. Harris, struggling to view the world through the eyes of a Jewish journalist, meanwhile faces a messy divorce from an imported Scottish decorator, firm in the belief that her fortune depends on her lawyer's ability to nail her discarded spouse in divorce court.Harris, on the advice of a rabbi friend, hires his own attorney, a frightening character with duel American/Israeli citizenship who moonlights for Mossad. He crushes his opponent in court, as his angry ex-wife vows revenge by recruiting her soccer-playing Irish cousin, in the USA, fund-raising for his cause, the Irish Republican Army.No slouch, the cousin has thus far collected four million dollars. Only he needs a way to get it through airport security and out of the country. Meanwhile, Harris' attorney convinces his client the I.R.A. fundraising ex-wife's cousin trains Palestinians, is a threat to Israel and, he, Harris, must help stop him.Back at Haskala, publisher Bernie Price, about to fire his long-time printers and replace them with a computerized publishing set-up, underestimates them badly. Injured African American WW II vets, they are hired in 1945 by Haskala founder and publishing icon, the late Sid Price, father of Bernie. They live in a basement apartment adjacent to the Haskala print shop.Len Harris, on learning the printers will be fired and evicted from their apartment, vows to save them. Only they have plans to save themselves by bringing down Haskala. Their intention is to publish their own weekly version, an all-bigot issue, which they do and distribute. Price convinces himself Harris did it and puts out a contract on him when the printers' issue hits the streets and Haskala crashes.Harris, on the run with the four million in I.R.A. money, stolen from the I.R.A. fund-raiser in a scam using him to get the money out of the country, must deal with the wrath of Bernie Price while being pursued unknowingly by the IRA agent. Nothing is as it seems. Pursued by a contract killer and an Irish Revolutionary, how Len Harris survives is at the heart of this "dark" comic thriller.
About the Author: Samuel A. Zervitz is a retired teacher and administrator in Baltimore City Public Schools for thirty-seven years. He continues to teach writing courses at Maryland area colleges. A graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars (MA 1973), Mr. Zervitz served as a communications specialist in the Baltimore City Public School System, and was later appointed by the mayor as coordinator and marketing director of the Baltimore's adult literacy initiative. Prior to becoming an educator, he spent two years as editor-in-chief of a prominent local weekly publication. As a freelancer, he has published over five hundred articles in both local and national journals, ghosted-written speeches for public officials, and produced radio and TV programs, largely on health and human service-related subjects. Additionally, Zervitz has authored two screenplays, one of which became a full length feature film on basketball recruiting. The other, an animated made-for-TV, Emmy-nominated holiday special, is currently being remade as a ballet. Mr. Zervitz founded Lee Alexander Associates, which performs public relations services for corporations, non-profits and businesses. Most recently, as a partner in Zervitz Sullivan Mensah, Inc., he has helped launch an international firm that brokers in education, training and marketing services. Mr. Zervitz, an artist of note, as well, has exhibited his work at local galleries, including the Eisenhower Library on Johns Hopkins University's campus, and at the Interfaith Center in Columbia, Maryland. He was married for forty-two years to the late Sharon L. Zervitz, an educator who headed Baltimore City Schools' program for blind and vision impaired children. He is the father of three sons and makes his home in Baltimore, MD