LEON: A LIFE. The True Stories of Captain Leon H Schneider

by Ivan Schneider, Leon H Schneider (As Told by)

Overview

Born in Brooklyn into a family of Jewish immigrants, Leon dropped out of high school and hitchhiked to Florida, the Catskills, and California. He joined the U.S. Merchant Marine and shipped out to Hawaii, almost missing the return trip just days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Everything changed when Leon survived two deadly U-Boat torpedo attacks in the Caribbean. Inspired to become a ship’s officer, he set out on a whirlwind of travel and adventure, with dalliances at every port: London during the Blitz. Postwar Germany, Italy, and Japan. An ill-fated affair in Buenos Aires. Encounters in the Philippines. A romance with a Yugoslavian ballet dancer. 

When the 45-year-old Leon finally settles down with 26-year-old Tamara, the couple must find a way to support the family in a world that has no apparent place for a retired ship’s captain with a colorful past.

Leon is a supremely gifted storyteller with an uncanny memory. He’s been charming people for years, and now, for the first time, his stories are available in print.

These are Leon’s shockingly funny, poignant, and unforgettable stories, as told to his son Ivan Schneider. Not just for the extended family, these are stories for the world, and for the ages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781733997614
Publisher:	Taelyen LLC
Publication date:	05/10/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	116
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Ivan Schneider works as a ghostwriter and copywriter for large global consulting firms, technology companies, and high-tech startups. He collaborates on custom publications and other creative endeavors with his mother, Tamara Schneider, who provides art direction, design, and illustration. Ivan attended Carnegie Mellon as an undergraduate and worked as a database programmer before earning an MBA from Vanderbilt and completing a full-year course studying the Japanese language at Cornell. Then, he worked for five years at CMP Media as an editor for a trade publication in financial technology. In 2012, he earned his Master of Liberal Arts from Harvard Extension School, concentrating in Foreign Literature and Culture with a thesis on the talking-dog short stories of Cervantes, Hoffmann, Gogol, Kafka, and Bulgakov. In 2017, his article "The Search for Dog in Cervantes" was published in the Animal Narratology special issue of Humanities, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. He has presented his research at the Harvard Extension Alumni Symposium, and in Seattle at Mercer Street Books and The Grocery Studios. He is also a contributor to Seattle Review of Books. www.ivantohelpyou.com www.OldConvincer.com

Table of Contents

Introduction
Acknowledgments
Koral–Schneider
Miss Koral
Aground and dismasted
Overheard
Arnold
The Little Momzer
Florence
Seeing
Craps
Nickels
The Neighborhood
The Bicycle Gonif
The Great Depression
Bar Mitzvah
Mom
Mary Gordon
Uncle Max
Kosher Sam
Sonia
Muriel
Harlem
Clubhouse
The Overcoat
Miami Beach
Homeward
Hunchback
Chickens
Brookside Manor
Up the Ranks
Hollywood and Vine
Busboy
Bessie and Anna
Wiper
Riding the Rails
Fireman
Caribbean Sinkings
Trinidad
Torpedo Club
Tests
Rules of the Road
Officer
Eleanor
The Blitz
War Shipping Administration
Victory in Europe
Putting Up the Ritz
Relief and Rehabilitation
Japan
War Bride
Rosita
Grrrrammi
Invention
Refugee
Pesos
Poor Alfredo
Deckhand
Exodus
Israel
Ireland
Yugoslavia
Korea
Convent
Law School
GI Bill
Suez Canal
Anka
Ocean Avenue
Flatbush
Passings
The Old Convincer
That’s It
Seventeen’s Your Point
Extra
Pensioner

Editorial Reviews

"This is a wonderful book and a fun read! Leon has such a distinct voice and it feels so authentic, while at the same time having this quality of larger-than-life storytelling that made me think of the German term Seemannsgarn, or seaman’s yarn, meaning that sailors spin stories that might be a bit exaggerated. And his wife, Tamara, sounds like a fierce pioneer in her own right. What a great job preserving these stories of such an adventurous life! There are some amazing lines that just made me stop to let them sink in, and some historical aspects that were so interesting to see through his eyes. And of course I laughed a lot!"

Dr. Joela Jacobs

University of Arizona

"LEON: A LIFE is really many lives packed into one freewheeling memoir: the irrepressible Leon Schneider as everything from a busboy and a construction worker to a merchant marine and an actor—and always ready for another adventure. From running after nickels during the Depression to swimming away from U-Boats in World War II: it’s all here and all told in a rapid-fire patter that gives us the essence of the man."

David Galef

Creative Writing Program Director, Montclair State University.

Author of My Date with Neanderthal Woman

"LEON: A LIFE springs from a labor of love: Ivan Schneider, Leon’s son, in collaboration with Tamara Schneider, Leon’s wife, faithfully recorded the wealth of rollicking memoirs recounted by the 97-year-old Leon. It did not require cajoling: Leon’s story bursts forth eagerly, with riveting humor, raunchy resilience and originality in the face of circumstances which might have easily defeated others. In addition, there is a nuanced implicit undercurrent of decrying the consequences of ethnic and economic discrimination. For the reader, the book is a treat, with much to admire and to enjoy."

Lora Heims Tessman

Author of The Analyst's Analyst Within and Children of Parting Parents

From the Publisher