THE ASOLO ACCORDS

About the Book

There was no obvious explanation for the Prime Minister of Israel and a high level Hamas official to be sitting together like old friends in a small medieval hill town north of Venice, Italy. The head epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control suspected that their brains were infected by a virus. The abnormal brain scans of four unconnected people suggested that a new disease was causing unexpected fits of empathy. The CIA feared that it might be germ warfare. How did it happen: serendipity, coincidence, biological mutation…or divine intervention? A group of unlikely witnesses gathered on that fateful day in Asolo, Italy. Among them was a New York psychiatrist obsessed with the study of Israeli-Palestinian relationships, whose life was in danger, and his wife who was finding her sins exposed with intolerable clarity. Present also was an Atlanta rabbi leading a fledgling international news network that broadcast only “the good news” about Israeli-Palestinian relationships. And there was A Luce, the messenger who had pulled the strings to make the meeting happen. They were all there at the magical moment of the signing of The Asolo Accords. There was no obvious explanation for how this unique situation came about. God only knows…..

About the Author

Ken Brigham, MD is emeritus professor of medicine at Emory University. In a long and distinguished career in academic medicine, he published more than 200 articles in professional journals and edited 3 academic texts. He is former Director of the Emory Georgia Tech Predictive Health Institute. Dr. Brigham authored a popular nonfiction book, Hard Bargain, about his experience with cancer and with coauthor Michael M.E. Johns recently published Predictive Health: How We Can Reinvent Medicine to Extend Our Best Years. He and Neil Shulman coauthored Spotless, a novel. Ken lives in Atlanta and spends several weeks a year with his wife Arlene Stecenko in their small flat in Venice. (See kenbrigham.com for more details) The Asolo Accords is a collaboration with Neil Shulman that evolved from their mutual experiences and their fascination with how human beings interact and why we do what we do. Neil Shulman, MD is a physician on the Emory University faculty who performs as a stand-up comedian and has authored multiple non-fiction works intended to educate general audiences about health issues. He is the character, “Dr. Neil the Banana Peel”, in public television spots dealing with health matters for children. He authored the novel, “Doc Hollywood” and co-produced the movie. He is author of a two published novels, “Backyard Tribe” and most recently, “The Corporate Kid”. Neil is a native of New York but has resided in Atlanta for many years during which he has been active in numerous community affairs related to human health and well-being. “The Asolo Accords” addresses his abiding interest in human relationships in general and the specific dilemma of Israeli-Palestinian interactions.