Personal

I am a board member of the Prison Policy Initiative, an innovative group that effectively takes on the Prison Industrial Complex. My reasons for serving on their board are given in my board interview here. I hope they are compelling enough to lead you to consider making a donation to them.

My father, Manfred Stanley, was a professor in the Department of Sociology at Syracuse University. He published one book, The Technological Conscience: Survival and Dignity in an Age of Expertise (University of Chicago Press, 1978). He was born in Berlin. I have written about my parents here.

Here is the synagogue in Berlin where my great-grandfather, Magnus Davidsohn, was the chief Cantor for many years; Leo Baeck was the chief Rabbi. Here is the synagogue that he co-founded in London when he left Berlin in 1939. Here is a CD that contains some songs sung by him; the page also contains a brief clip of him singing the Psalm von Lewandowsky. There are a number of books that discuss him, some using the Christian name he used as an opera singer, Magnus Dawison. His brother was the opera singer Max Dawison.

My grandmother Ilse Stanley was also an actor. She is author of the book, The Unforgotten (Beacon Press, 1957), one of the first memoirs of the Holocaust, and is featured on the American show, This is Your Life in 1955. My grandfather, Alexander Intrator, was a concert violinist.