Tattered Kimonos in Japan: Remaking Lives from Memories of World War II (University of Alabama Press, 2023)

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Examines Japan’s war generation—Japanese men and women who survived World War Two and rebuilt their lives, into the 21st century, from memories of that conflict.

Since John Hersey’s Hiroshima—the classic account, published in 1946, of the aftermath of the atomic bombing of that city—very few books have examined the meaning and impact of World War II through the eyes of Japanese men and women who survived that conflict. Tattered Kimonos in Japan does just that: It is an intimate journey into contemporary Japan from the perspective of the generation of Japanese soldiers and civilians who survived World War II, by a writer whose American father and Japanese father-in-law fought on opposite sides of the conflict.

The author, a former NPR senior editor, is Jewish, and he approaches the subject with the sensibilities of having grown up in a community of Holocaust survivors. Mindful of the power of victimhood, memory, and shared suffering, he travels across Japan, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, meeting a compelling group of men and women whose lives, even now, are defined by the trauma of war, and by lingering questions of responsibility and repentance for Japan’s wartime aggression.

The image of a tattered kimono from Hiroshima is the thread that drives the narrative arc of this emotional story about a writer’s encounter with history, inside the Japan of his father’s generation, on the other side of his father’s war. This is a book about history with elements of family memoir. It offers a fresh and truly unique perspective for readers interested in World War II, Japan, or Judaica; readers seeking cross-cultural journeys; and readers intrigued by Japanese culture, particularly the kimono.

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Tamerlane’s Children: Dispatches from Contemporary Uzbekistan (Oneworld Publications, 2006)

Uzbekistan is a country of contradictions. Where Islam meets a secular state, Uzbekistan is torn between its historical roots, Soviet rule, and modern consumerism. As an ally in the ‘War on Terror’, yet retaining a troubling record on human rights, even the West has been uncertain about how to approach it.

In this vibrant account, Robert Rand draws on three years living and travelling in the region to carefully deconstruct the cultural allegiances and tensions that color Uzbek life. From the heritage of the country’s beloved hero, Tamerlane, to the clash of cultures in Uzbek pop music, this lively book will captivate the historian, the traveler, and anyone who wishes to understand modern life in the ex-Soviet bloc.

"A perceptive book about contemporary Uzbekistan. Rand's brief but valuable Tamerlane's Children begins with dispatches from his time in Uzbekistan including pen portraits which give fascinating insights into comtemporary life there."

—The Times Literary Supplement

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Dancing Away an Anxious Mind: A Memoir about Overcoming Panic Disorder (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004)

In this engaging memoir, Robert Rand tells the tale of how through dancing he helped free himself from the grip of panic disorder. Rand was a serious, shy, and intense scholar who had achieved national recognition in a career in writing and radio production. In the midst of his success, panic attacks overwhelmed him. For more than two years, he suffered their debilitating effects; the disease flattened his spirits and stripped him of self-confidence. Then he discovered social dancing, and in particular Cajun and zydeco dance and music. Dancing became a cathartic and liberating endeavor, helping him beat back his panic disorder to discover a world of passion and romance and to gain control of his life.

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My Suburban Shtetl: A Novel about Life in a Twentieth-Century Jewish-American Village (Syracuse University Press, Library of Modern Jewish Literature, 2001)

An endearing story of growing up in an insular Midwestern suburb of Jewish Holocaust survivors trying to fit into the world around them.

“It's a quick read of a story, told with humor…Readers new to American-Jewish literature and those who enjoy a wallow in nostalgia will delight in this meichl. And that, if you don't understand Yiddish, is a treat”.

—Chicago Tribune

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Comrade Lawyer: Inside Soviet Justice in an Era of Reform (Routledge, second edition, 2020, originally published in 1991)

The focus is a Moscow courtroom, where the author – a journalist, lawyer, and Russian affairs analyst – tells the story of a murder trial told from the point of view of the defendant’s lawyer.

“Not since George Feifer produced Justice in Moscow in the 1960s has a western researcher observed Soviet law at such close range over so long a period…Comrade Lawyer merits a wide audience. It is anecdotal and therefore accessible; yet it also represents a contribution to the academic literature on law and society in the Soviet Union. Few books weave together so convincingly reportage and scholarly analysis. Comrade Lawyer will servce as a splendid supplemental text for undergraduate courses in Soviet politics or Russian studies.”

—Eugene E. Huskey, Slavic Review

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