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For years, people have been asking Ezekiel “Zeke” Emanuel, the brash, outspoken, and fiercely loyal eldest brother in the Emanuel clan, the same question: What did your mom put in the cereal? Middle brother Rahm is the mayor of Chicago, erstwhile White House chief of staff, and one of the most colorful figures in American politics. Youngest brother Ari is a Hollywood superagent, the real-life model for the character of Ari Gold on the hit series Entourage. And Zeke himself, whom the other brothers consider to be the smartest of them all, is one of the world’s leading bioethicists and oncologists, and a former special advisor for health policy in the Obama administration. How did one family of modest means produce three such high-achieving kids? Here, for the first time, Zeke provides the answer.
Set amid the tumult of Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s, Brothers Emanuel recounts the intertwined histories of these three rambunctious, hypercompetitive Jewish American boys, each with his own unique and compelling life story. But ultimately, this is the story of the entire Emanuel family: the tough, colorful Old World grandparents; a mischievous, loving father who immigrated to the United States with twenty-five dollars and who enthralled his boys with tales of his adventures in Israel’s war for independence; and a proud, politically engaged mother who took the boys with her to rallies and protests—including a civil rights march through the streets of Chicago led by Martin Luther King himself.
Even as the Emanuels distinguished themselves as individuals, the bond of brotherhood that tied them together was never broken. Brothers Emanuel is a wry, rollicking, and often poignant narrative of how one American family succeeded in raising three extraordinary children.
Praise for Brothers Emanuel
“An endearing, honest and gripping account of an American success story.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“A beautiful portrait of growing up Jewish in an urban environment during an era of profound social change.”—Publishers Weekly
“This delightful memoir is a deeply personal tale of one family, but it’s also about much larger things: America and tribal identity, love and rivalry, and the moral lessons to be learned as you grow up.”—Walter Isaacson
“Fascinating . . . a classic tale of an immigrant family.”—Chicago Tribune
“Mighty entertaining.”—The Hollywood Reporter
“A clear-eyed, candid memoir that is unique and yet quintessentially American.”—BookPage
“A fun read.”—The Forward
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 26, 2013 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781588369932
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781588369932
- File size: 4270 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Publisher's Weekly
April 8, 2013
The oldest of three boys, Emanuel recalls growing up in Chicago in the 1960's and 70's with his brothers, Rahm and Ari, their pediatrician father Ben, and activist mother Marsha. Rahm would grow up to advise Bill Clinton and become mayor of Chicago. Ari is a Hollywood talent agent and Ezekiel a bioethicist specializing in end-of-life care decisions. The story begins with Ben's journey from Israel to medical school in France, then to Chicago's Mount Sinai Hospital. . He opened a private practice, serving Chicago's melting pot by speaking four languages and charging on a sliding scale. Marsha joined picket lines for desegregation and encouraged her sons to devote themselves to social justice, even bringing them to a 1966 march attended by Martin Luther King. Ezekiel recalls blatant anti-semitism, from racial slurs to bigoted country clubs. The Emanuels immersed themselves in culture, from the symphony and ballet lessons to Jewish theology. The family traveled often, ranging from a trip along Route 66 in a sky-blue Rambler to whole summers spent in Israel which Ezekiel recalls with vivid description. This book is a beautiful portrait of growing up Jewish in an urban environment during an era of profound social change. -
Kirkus
March 1, 2013
The brother of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel relates the history of his family's classic immigrants-make-good American story. Ezekiel Emanuel's memoir is ostensibly the story of how he and his brothers, Rahm and Ari, developed their unique personalities and talents over the years. The author became a respected research scientist specializing in bioethics, his brother Ari, a successful talent agent, and his brother Rahm worked for the Clinton campaign in 1992 and eventually became Barack Obama's chief of staff. Yet despite the brothers' ambitions in their respective fields, they aren't the ones whose lives make for the most interesting focal point in the book: It's the parents who actually lived the memoir-worthy lives. The father, Ben, was a direct participant in the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, interrupting his medical studies to act as an amateur secret agent and then joining the Israeli artillery in the fight against the Egyptians. After the war, he finished medical school in Switzerland before coming to America to set up his practice. Their mother was a staunch left-wing activist in the 1960s; she brought her sons to some of the most heated political protests in Chicago. Comparatively, the early life that Ezekiel and his brothers led in the Chicago suburbs was fairly comfortable and middle-class, with all three brothers going to expensive, exclusive colleges on their father's dime and studiously sticking to the straight-and-narrow path to professional success. In fact, the most exciting thing that happened to the author came while studying in England: He was jailed in Oxford for supposedly resisting arrest while breaking bike safety laws. Well-written and heartfelt but short on dramatic moments and memorable anecdotes.COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Booklist
March 15, 2013
How did one family produce three such extraordinary sons? Ezekiel is a doctor, university professor, and special advisor on health policy for President Obama. Rahm is mayor of Chicago and a former White House chief of staff. Ari is a powerhouse Hollywood agent. Firstborn Ezekiel traces the genesis of the divergent achievements of the brothers Emanuel in this vivid, engaging, and thoughtfully analytical family portrait that illuminates the forceful personalities and kinetic energy of the Emanuels as well as 1960s Chicago. Their Israeli father, Ben, was consumed by his work as a community-minded doctor. Their mother, Marsha, a fearless activist, took her young sons to civil rights protests. The brothers fought constantly but always defended each other during street fights with anti-Semitic and racist bullies. Ezekiel's loving, bemused, and incisive chronicle of Emanuel family dynamics and each brother's struggleshis as an ambitious nerd; fiercely intelligent Rahm's with sensitivity about his height; and natural-born entrepreneur Ari's with learning disabilitiesfizzes with surprising disclosures, alarming and hilarious incidents, and intriguing perspectives on the American dream, the nature-versus-nurture puzzle, and diverse definitions of success.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)
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Formats
- Kindle Book
- OverDrive Read
- EPUB ebook
Languages
- English
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