Bruce Ashkenas had a full career at the National Archives where he worked describing records, including those of the German American Bund, which were seized as enemy records upon United States entrance to World War II.  The background of Shadows of Shame lies in those years when he daily read the intensely anti-Semitic words of the Nazi Bund.  Mr. Ashkenas has also written three young adult novels, Auntie's Ghost, Sick Street, and Aglow in The Bronx.  He lives in Fairfax, Virginia with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.