Book Talk: City of Masks by W. Michael Blumenthal

Join the Leo Baeck Institute when Former Treasury Secretary W. Michael Blumenthal presents his first novel, City of Masks: A Novel of Shanghai. Set against the volatile backdrop of wartime Shanghai, the book weaves a tale of intrigue, danger, and survival.

Born near Berlin in 1926, Blumenthal’s family fled Nazi persecution, finding refuge in Shanghai where he spent eight formative years of his youth before immigrating to the United States. Both a fast-moving spy story and a richly detailed portrait of wartime Shanghai, City of Masks is Blumenthal’s return to the city of his youth—and a destination for many German Jewish refugees.

Blumenthal went on to forge a distinguished career in public service and foreign policy, most notably serving as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Carter and serving as a foreign trade advisor under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He later led the creation of the Jewish Museum Berlin, serving as its director until 2014. His journey from a wartime refugee to a towering figure in international economic diplomacy to a leader in German-Jewish memory comes together at the Leo Baeck Institute.

Mike Blumenthal was born in Oranienburg, Germany, in 1926 and grew up in Berlin. After his father was imprisoned at Buchenwald, the family escaped Nazi Germany for Shanghai in 1939, where they spent the war years. Blumenthal immigrated to the United States in 1947 and became a U.S. citizen in 1952.

He studied at the University of California, Berkeley and earned a doctorate in economics from Princeton University, where he later taught economics. His career has spanned diplomacy, government, business and cultural leadership. He served in the U.S. State Department during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and later led the Bendix Corporation.

From 1977 to 1979, Blumenthal served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Jimmy Carter. He subsequently became chairman and CEO of Burroughs and, following its merger with Sperry, chairman and CEO of Unisys.

In 1997, Blumenthal returned to Berlin to lead the creation of the Jewish Museum Berlin, serving as its founding director through 2014. He received the Horatio Alger Award in 1980 and was later named an honorary citizen of Berlin.