Paul Erdman

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Paul Emil Erdman (born May 19, 1932 in Ontario , Canada , † April 23, 2007 in Healdsburg , Sonoma County , California ) was a successful American author of financial thrillers .

Life

Erdman was born in Canada to American parents and grew up in the United States. He received his education at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University . In Basel , where he studied economics, theology and European history, he received his doctorate (summa cum laude).

At first he worked for the Washington Post and the European Coal and Steel Community , before he was the first American to set up a private bank in Switzerland in 1965. The bank was later bought by United California Bank .

In 1970 the bank collapsed when it lost fifty million dollars on illegal silver and cocoa futures . Erdman, as president of the bank, spent eight months in prison, a 17th century dungeon. He was eventually released on bail and fled to the United States. He was sentenced to nine years in prison in absentia.

Erdman wanted to use the time in prison for a business book. But since he had no access to libraries, he decided to write a thriller instead. The result was The Billion Dollar Sure Thing (German: "The Billion Dollar Cut"), which was awarded an Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1974 for the best first novel. This started what he later called a "successful career change".

Erdman was an early proponent of internet journalism . He wrote a finance column for MarketWatch.com for years .

Since 1973 he lived with his wife and two daughters on a ranch in California. He died of cancer.

Financial thriller

Erdman's novels are fast-paced, action-packed thrillers in which the characters of the people are less important than the plot. In doing so, he draws on historical facts and current economic trends, from which he constructs a conflict that usually takes place in the near future. This is best achieved in his probably most successful novel The Crash of '79 (German: "Crash'81. The big shock"). There are always detailed, easy-to-understand explanations of financial terms woven into the plot. The Guardian called him a cross between Adam Smith and Sidney Sheldon . One of his novels The Silver Bears (German: Die Silberhaie ) was filmed in 1978 with Michael Caine and Cybill Shepherd .

Several of his novels are set, at least in part, in Switzerland, with which he had a love-hate relationship. In Swiss account in 1992 (German: Swiss accounts ) is about the involvement of the Swiss banking world with the Nazi regime. In this book, Erdman takes the unusual step of continually adding footnotes that actually underpin the plot of the novel. Swiss Account resulted in Swiss banks paying compensation to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust more than fifty years after the war.

Works

  • The European Economic Community and Third Countries . Co-author Peter Rogge, Kyklos Verlag 1960
  • The billion dollar cut . Übers. Rolf Soellner & Hedda Soellner ( Billion Dollar Sure Thing aka Billion Dollar Killing ), Piper Verlag 1974
  • The silver sharks . Translated by Dietrich Menne ( Silver Bears ), Krüger-Verlag 1979
  • Crash '81: the big shock . Translated by Hans E. Hausner ( Crash of 79 ), Krüger Verlag 1979
  • The last days of America . Translated by Claus Fischer ( Last Days of America ), Dt. Book Association 1983
  • This is how money works: a guide for investors . Langen Müller Verlag 1986
  • Panic '89 . Übers. Hans E. Hausner ( Panic of '89 ), Ullstein Verlag 1987
  • Palace . Übers. Hans E. Hausner ( The Palace ), Ullstein Verlag 1988
    • New edition Las Vegas game: the Palace . Ullstein Verlag 1996
  • Swiss accounts . Übers. Ronald M. Hahn ( Swiss Account ), Eichborn Verlag 1995
  • Zero bonds . Übers. Günter Ohnemus ( Zero Coupon ), Eichborn Verlag 1994

literature

  • Antonio Montaner Erdman, Paul and Peter Rogge discussed: The European Economic Community and Third Countries . Schmoller's Yearbook for Legislation, Administration and Economics Vol 82 No 6, Duncker & Humblot Verlag 1962

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jun/08/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries . Possibly it was also a legend built up by Erdman. According to at least one source, he was fired for proven innocence. ( http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/09.10.98/lit-erdman-9836.html ).
  2. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/obituaries/25erdman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
  3. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jun/08/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries
  4. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.commongroundcommonsense.org

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Erdman, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Erdman, Paul Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American financial thriller writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Ontario , Canada
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 2007
Place of death Sonoma County , California