In February 1940, the Nazis established what would become the second-largest Jewish ghetto in the Polish city of Lodz. Its chosen leader: Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, is a Jewish businessman and orphanage director -- and the elusive, authoritarian power sustaining the ghettos very existence.From one of Swedens most critically acclaimed and bestselling authors, The Emperor of Lies chronicles the tale of Rumkowskis monarchical rule over a quarter-million Jews for the next four years. Driven by a titanic ambition, he sought to transform the ghetto into a productive industrial complex and strove to make it -- and himself -- indispensable to the Nazi regime.Drawing on the detailed records of life in the Lodz ghetto, Steve Sem-Sandberg asks the most difficult questions: Was Rumkowski a ruthless opportunist, an accessory to the Nazi regime driven by a lust for power? Or was he a pragmatic strategist who saved Jewish lives through his collaboration policies?

In February 1940, the Nazis established what would become the second-largest Jewish ghetto in the Polish city of Lodz. Its chosen leader: Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, is a Jewish businessman and orphanage director -- and the elusive, authoritarian power sustaining the ghettos very existence.From one of Swedens most critically acclaimed and bestselling authors, The Emperor of Lies chronicles the tale of Rumkowskis monarchical rule over a quarter-million Jews for the next four years. Driven by a titanic ambition, he sought to transform the ghetto into a productive industrial complex and strove to make it -- and himself -- indispensable to the Nazi regime.Drawing on the detailed records of life in the Lodz ghetto, Steve Sem-Sandberg asks the most difficult questions: Was Rumkowski a ruthless opportunist, an accessory to the Nazi regime driven by a lust for power? Or was he a pragmatic strategist who saved Jewish lives through his collaboration policies?