Norman L. Eisen, “The Last Palace”

In Conversation with Gail Evans, Former Executive Vice President, CNN; Bestselling Author

Community Partners: Congregation B’nai Torah; Georgia Commission on the Holocaust

When Norman Eisen, who served as the US ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2011 to 2014, moved into the ambassador’s residence in Prague, returning to the land his mother had fled after the Holocaust, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture in his new home. These symbols of Nazi Germany were remnants of the residence’s forgotten history, and evidence that we never live far from the past. From that discovery unspooled the twisting, captivating tale of four of the remarkable people (including Shirley Temple Black) who had called this palace home. Eisen weaves in the life his own mother to demonstrate how those without power and privilege moved through history.

Norman L. Eisen is a CNN political commentator, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and board chair of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). He writes regularly for the New York Times, USA Today, and Politico. He is an attorney who previously served as White House special counsel for ethics and government reform and later as U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic.