Arnie Bernstein (born 1960) is an American writer of historical

nonfiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to present topics objectively ...

. His works include ''Bath Massacre: America’s First School Bombing'' and ''Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund''.

Biography

Bernstein is a native of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He graduated from

Niles West High School Niles West High School (NWHS), officially Niles Township High School West, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago, in the United States. NWHS is part of the Niles Township Community High School ...

and attended

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...

where he majored in

film studies Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various film theory, theoretical, history of film, historical, and film criticism, critical approaches to film, cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media stud ...

and theater. He received a master's degree from

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1890, it has 6,493 students (as of fall 2021) pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It i ...

. His writings have covered topics such as the Bath School bombing and the

German-American Bund The German American Bund, or the German American Federation (, ''Amerikadeutscher Volksbund'', AV), was a German-American Nazi organization which was established in 1936 as a successor to the Friends of New Germany (FONG, FDND in German) and ...

as well as its leader,

Fritz Kuhn Fritz Kuhn (born 29 June 1955) is a German politician who served as Mayor of Stuttgart from 2012 until 2021. He was co-chairman of Alliance 90/The Greens, the German Green party, in 2002 and its parliamentary group from 2002 to 2013. Early lif ...

. His writing has been featured in ''Tablet'' magazine. He has also been published in the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''. Bernstein has discussed his book ''Bath Massacre'' on

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Book TV ''Book TV'' is the name given to weekend programming on the American cable network C-SPAN2, which airs from 8 a.m. Eastern Time Sunday morning to 8 a.m. Eastern Time Monday morning each week. The 24-hour block of programming is focused on no ...

as a

talking head A talking head is a television pundit. Talking head or talking heads may also refer to: Music * Talking Heads, an American rock band ** ''Talking Heads'' (album), a 2005 box set by Talking Heads * "Talking Head", a song by Motörhead from the ...

and on the

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Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

show ''RN Breakfast''. He discussed his book ''Swastika Nation'' in an interview with the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

journal ''Historia Do Rzeczy'', on

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

on the ''AM Joy Show''. He also spoke about the book on the

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

''Your Weekly Constitutional'' with Stewart Harris. In addition has been featured on PBS "American Experience," ''Swastika Nation'' was reviewed in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and the

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

. He detailed the adversarial relationship between Fritz Kuhn and iconic American columnist

Walter Winchell Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and c ...

; this topic and his views were later published in the ''Times Book Review''.

Awards and honors

* 2000 American Regional History Book Award for ''Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100 Years of Chicago and the Movies'', First Place * 2005 Illinois State Library Authors Fair * 2010 Michigan Notable Book Honors for ''Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing'' * He earned the Warner Brothers Studios Comedy Writing Workshop scholarship * He received the Puffin Foundation grant * Lit 50: Who Really Books Chicago 2019. Named as one of the top 50 people in the Chicago book world, along with Alta Price, for advocacy work in Chicago on behalf of the Authors Guild

Works

* * * * *

References

External links

* Presentation by Arnie Bernstein, author of the new book, Hoofs and Guns of the Storm: Chicago's Civil War Connection.
Arnie Bernstein's website

Arnie Bernstein's profile - Illinois Center for the Book
* Local author spotlight interview with Arnie Bernstein from the Chicago Book Revie

* Kirkus Review of ''Swastika Nation'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, Arnie 1960 births Living people Writers from Chicago American military historians 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Historians from Illinois American male non-fiction writers