Mahwah April 6, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 3 This month, acclaimed writer and educator Sheila Isenberg will speak at Ramapo College of New Jersey under the auspices of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and History Club. Isenberg will discuss her new book, “Muriel’s War: An American Heiress in the Nazi Resistance,” on Tuesday, April 12 from 1 to 2 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge (SC 138), Robert A. Scott Student Center. The college is located at 505 Ramapo Valley Road (Route 202) in Mahwah. Isenberg’s book tells the story of a courageous woman who left a life of privilege for a world of danger and international espionage. Born into a wealthy meatpacking dynasty in Chicago and educated at Wellesley, raven-haired beauty Muriel Gardiner renounced her family’s materialistic lifestyle and left the United States as a young woman. First studying at Oxford, then attending the University of Vienna medical school, Gardiner befriended Anna Isenberg to discuss heiress who resisted Nazis Freud and studied the fledgling science of psychoanalysis just as the dark clouds of Hitler’s war were moving across Europe. During this tumultuous time, she married twice, had a daughter and, in Vienna, fell in love with a leader of the Austrian underground. When Germany annexed Austria in March of 1938, Gardiner began to help Jews and anti-fascists escape, smuggling forged documents across borders and risking her life. Eventually, she left Europe for New York, but used her wealth and vast network to continue to rescue many still trapped behind enemy lines. Here, for the first time this electrifying woman who impressed everyone she met with her intelligence and powerful personality, receives her due. An American heiress turned resistance hero, Gardiner went on to become an eminent psychoanalyst, and was a founder of the International Rescue Committee. Drawing from Gardiner’s unpublished writings and interviews with those who knew her best, Isenberg offers an astonishing story of moral courage and humanistic zeal. With all its twists and turns, this inspiring account reveals a heroic woman who lives on as a legend of her time. Isenberg last visited Ramapo College to present “The Intellectual as Hero: Varian Fry and his Feat of Rescue,” in conjunction with the showing of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s traveling exhibition, “Varian Fry, Assignment: Rescue, 1940-1941.” Isenberg’s last book, “A Hero of Our Own,” a biography of Fry published in 2001 by Random House, was named a notable book by The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and is a featured book on the official website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She is also the author of “Women Who Love Men Who Kill,” co-author with the late William M. Kunstler of “My Life as a Radical Lawyer,” and collaborator with Tracey Brown on “The Life and Times of Ron Brown.” Isenberg’s books have been translated into other languages, and she appears frequently in the national media, most recently on “Good Morning America.” She has been interviewed on CNN, NPR, “20/20,” “The Today Show,” many other cable and network programs, and in dozens of newspapers and magazines in the U.S. and internationally. Born in New York City, Isenberg was educated at the City University of New York. She earned a B.A. in English from Brooklyn College and studied in the graduate English Department of Hunter College. She has been a reporter and a press secretary, and is now adjunct lecturer of journalism and English at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She lives in Woodstock with her husband. The presentation is free and all are welcome. To reserve a seat, call (201) 6847409. The Mahwah Museum will present its April History Lecture “Mahwah and Mount Laurel: The Growth of Housing in Mahwah 1900-2000” on Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ramapo Reformed Church Education Building, 100 Island Road in Mahwah. In 1983, the Supreme Court of New Jersey rendered the controversial Mount Laurel decision about municipal requirements for affordable housing. Mahwah was one of the defendants in that case. The deci- Mount Laurel in retrospect sion and its aftermath caused Mahwah to grow from a suburban community to the “Edge City” it is today. Tom Dunn, the chronicler of Cragmere and a long-time resident of Mahwah, will present the history of housing development in the township using sources from the archives of the museum. Admission is $3 per person; free for Mahwah Museum members. Refreshments will be served. Reservations are recommended; visit www.mahwahmuseum.org or call (201) 512-0099. 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