{"id":3208,"date":"2019-10-08T10:41:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T17:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.granvilleislandpublishing.com\/2point0\/?post_type=product&p=3208"},"modified":"2021-10-13T13:40:21","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T20:40:21","slug":"a-texas-greenhorn-in-berlin-and-moscow-1928","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/granvilleislandpublishing.com\/2point0\/product\/a-texas-greenhorn-in-berlin-and-moscow-1928\/","title":{"rendered":"A Texas Greenhorn in Berlin and Moscow, 1928"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joseph S. Werlin<\/strong> (1900 \u2013 1964) was the first PhD candidate at the University of Chicago approved for a proposed thesis on the origins of the Russian Revolution. In January 1928, he set out from Galveston, Texas, to study in Berlin and Moscow. His travel diary shows his curiosity to understand foreign ways and cultures, foretelling an unanticipated career turn.<\/p>\n

At age 10, Joe\u2019s immigrant parents moved their family from Philadelphia to Pearland, Texas. After a brief stint at Annapolis, he entered Rice Institute in the fall of 1920, completing a B.A. in European History. He earned an M.A. from University of Chicago in 1926, and a PhD., in 1931. The Great Depression, anti-Soviet fears, and anti-Semitism combined to dash opportunities in his chosen area of study. In 1934, he was offered a teaching appointment in Sociology on the first faculty of the University of Houston, where he remained until his death.<\/p>\n

\n

Joella Werlin<\/strong> was born and raised in Houston. Her Texas upbringing and outlook was differentiated from her peer group\u2019s by summer travels with her professor father and journalist mother to Mexico, Guatemala, and Cuba, where her father led international studies programs. She attended University of Texas\/ Austin for one year before transferring to Connecticut College (New London), where she received a BA in European History. She holds a graduate Diploma in Anthropology from the University of Oxford. After marriage and living for several years on the East Coast, her family \u2014 with two young children, Adam Zivin and Joselyn Zivin \u2014 relocated to Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n

For 15 years, she served as Director of Public Affairs and Community Relations for the Portland ABC-TV affiliate. She later became a professional Personal Historian, helping individuals, families, and family-owned businesses preserve a permanent record of their life and career stories. Now retired, living in Seattle, Washington, \u201cA Texas Greenhorn,\u201d emerges from that most valued career experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joseph Werlin\u2019s diary pages are full of remarkable observations of France, Germany, Russia, and America in 1928. Allowed into Moscow on a study visa, Werlin\u2019s keen eye for observation and documentation provides firsthand insight into the early days of Stalinist rule. During his travels, Werlin refers to himself as a \u201cgreenhorn,\u201d acknowledging his innocence as a first-time international traveler and recording his memories with a student\u2019s youthful eagerness. Together with Werlin\u2019s diary, his daughter, Joella Werlin, has compiled correspondence, news articles, and other historical documents to reveal her father\u2019s life story, as well as a rare insight into European, Russian, and American history.<\/p>\n

\u2014Joseph Werlin received his PhD in Russian history from the University of Chicago and later became Professor of Sociology at the University of Houston.
\n\u2014Joella Werlin, his daughter, develops this story and reveals his life as it turned out.<\/p>\n

\n

Reviews \/ Testimonials:<\/h4>\n

\u201cJoseph Sidney Werlin visited Weimar Germany and Soviet Russia in 1928 to better understand the origins of the Bolshevik revolution . . . . What he saw was a continent in transition, with a vibrant Jewish life and democratic politics in Germany, a militarized society and culture in Poland, and radical social reforms in Russia. His intelligence and curiosity, professional training, and personal background as a second-generation Jewish American made him a keen observer and commentator . . . .
\nLovingly prepared by his daughter and featuring unique personal documents and archival materials, this book invites its readers to join Joseph Werlin on a fascinating intellectual journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Alexey Gobulev, PhD<\/strong>
\nAssistant professor of Russian history
\nUniversity of Houston<\/p>\n

\u201cThe book seems to have something for every history buff: Russia, Germany, Mexico, Judaism, anti-Semitism, the Depression of the 1930s, academic life under the constraints of political turmoil. The correspondence between the writer and his fianc\u00e9e adds additional validity . . . and is imbued with warmth and passion.
\n. . . [Werlin] captured very well the dark and tumultuous years of post-NEP Moscow: the squalor, the housing crisis in the city, the misery of communal living, the pitiful state of the citizens, the introduction of cooperatives, the treatment of the Russian Jews. He projects effectively the image of the country ravished by the October Revolution . . . .
\nJoseph Werlin said, \u2018It will not be easy for me to forget my first impression of Moscow.\u2019 It will be equally hard for me to forget my impressions of reading his diary!\u201d
\n\u2014Dr Rima Greenhill<\/strong>
\nStanford Humanities Center Fellow (2019-20) and Senior Lecturer in Russian Language
\nDepartment of Slavic Languages and Literatures
\nStanford University.<\/p>\n

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Paperback and eBook:<\/h4>\n

ISBN: 9781989467107 (paperback). $30.95 CDN, $24.95 US. Available on Amazon<\/a><\/span>. Size: 8.00 x 10.88 inches
\nISBN: 9781989467114 (ebook). $9.99 CDN, $9.99 US. Available via Amazon Kindle<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Distribution in the UK via Gazelle Book Services<\/p>\n

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<\/h4>\n

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