My latest book is titled The Land of Eighteen Dreams. I especially enjoyed writing it because it is my first novel after a large number of nonfiction books. The book starts out with a brave young woman saving her younger brother from being kidnapped by the Russian army at the end of the 19th century. And that's just the first chapter. I have been an English professor and served in other jobs as well. I began writing more than thirty years ago. Some of my books include The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America and Mixed Nuts about comedy teams.