The Sheik and the Shadow

"Bernstein's suspenseful memoir offers an honest, often wryly humorous, account of brotherly love gone wrong, the chaos of mental illness, and the potential villainy of worldwide celebrity. Each chapter begs you to read 'just one more' and to cheer on this survivor of a 'loony bin of last resort.'" —PHYLLIS REYNOLDS NAYLOR, winner of the Newbery Medal and the Edgar Allan Poe Award A gripping tale of Bob Bernstein's journey as the envious younger brother of Morey Bernstein, world-famous hypnotist and author of "The Search for Bridey Murphy." Here, Bernstein offers an inside account of the 1950s Bridey Murphy reincarnation phenomenon from hobby to worldwide fame, while chronicling his own suicide attempts, battles with schizophrenia, and stays in mental institutions, before finding success with a long career in journalism and law as his brother descended to a bizarre, reclusive end.

"So Morey was the family megastar. I was the also-ran, even something of a clan pariah… I was convinced that at root I was worthless, and maybe crazy." "The Sheik and the Shadow: A Memoir of Brotherly Bond, Celebrity, and Madness" imparts the intertwined accounts of Bob's intense relationship with his older brother, Morey; his experience as a certified-insane patient in a then-world-renowned mental hospital (Chestnut Lodge, the setting of the book, movie, and play "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden"); and his brother's descent from extreme literary success and fame to a bizarre, reclusive end. In his mid-thirties, Morey capped his multi-millionaire business career with "The Search for Bridey Murphy," a book that sold over 6 million copies in 30 languages across 34 countries and became a movie starring an Academy Award winner. Meanwhile, Bob was labeled schizophrenic, and locked-up with a group of creatures from his most nightmarish snake-pit fantasies. Early readers have been alternately amazed, appalled, and beguiled by the account of his confinement in this macabre setting.

When Bob Bernstein was 30, his older brother, Morey, published a book later described by the New York Times as a "sensation" that created "a cultural brush fire." Meanwhile, Bob was labeled schizophrenic, and locked-up with a group of creatures from his most nightmarish snake-pit fantasies. Bob would go on to a successful career in journalism and law—working as a reporter and columnist for the Montgomery County Sentinel, graduating first in his law school class, serving as an appellate lawyer with the Tax Division in the United States Department of Justice, and working as a tenured law professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Bob's first book, "Straight Parents, Gay Children: Keeping Families Together" (De Capo Press, 1995, 2003), won the 1996 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. His other book is "Families of Value: Personal Profiles of Pioneering Lesbian and Gay Parents" (De Capo Press, 2009). His essays have appeared in scores of newspapers and magazines.