Icon of Evil - John Rothmann

John Rothmann, one of the authors of Icon of Evil, recently spoke at Kepler's.  Author Events Manager, Pam Grange, hosted this event.  Here are her notes:

This was a wonderful event!  The subject matter is chilling, and John is a fascinating speaker and totally held the attention of the audience – including me.  Rich had to come whisper in my ear that it was almost 8:30, and we needed to wind it up!  Luckily John is also a very fast signer, even though he was gracious and charming to everyone and seemed to talk to them all at length.  He has quite a number of fans from his role as talk show host on KGO, and he also teaches at USF.   Yep – people just kept coming, and we ended up with a rapt crowd of 100.

 Just a quick synopsis of the book.  It’s extremely well-researched - about 40 years in the making (although it only took them 6 months to actually write it.)  In 1921, the beneficiary of an appointment the British would live to regret, Haj Amin al-Husseini became the mufti of Jerusalem, the most eminent and influential Islamic leader in the Middle East.  For years, al-Husseini fomented violence in the region against the Jews he loathed and wished to destroy. Forced out in 1937, he eventually found his way to the country whose legions he desperately wished to join: Nazi Germany.  The book provides compelling evidence that al-Husseini's actions and writings serve as inspirations today to the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations pledged to destroy Israel and the United States. In fact he was responsible for translating Mein Kamf into Arabic, and, to this day, it remains at the top of bestseller lists all over the Middle East.