Dornstein, Ken 1969-
DORNSTEIN, Ken 1969-
PERSONAL:
Born 1969; son of Perry Dornstein (a physician); married; wife's name Kathryn; children: Sam, Sophie. Education: Graduated from Brown University.
ADDRESSES:
Home—Boston, MA.
CAREER:
Writer, journalist, television producer, and television editor. Frontline (PBS television program), series editor. Worked as a private investigator in Los Angeles.
MEMBER:
AWARDS, HONORS:
Yaddo artist residency (two-time recipient).
WRITINGS:
Accidentally, on Purpose: The Making of a Personal Injury Underground in America, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1996.
The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky: A True Story (memoir), Random House (New York, NY), 2006.
Contributor to periodicals, including the New Yorker.
SIDELIGHTS:
Writer, journalist, and television producer Ken Dornstein is the author of Accidentally, on Purpose: The Making of a Personal Injury Underground in America, a book that describes indepth the collaborators and carefully orchestrated scams designed to fake personal injury accidents and therefore defraud insurance companies of millions paying for nonexistent injuries and impairments. Dornstein offers a comprehensive history of insurance fraud and faked injury claims, starting with seafarers who deliberately scuttled their ships, arsonists who torched properties for their value, and unprincipled sorts who exploited Workers' Compensation programs. Dornstein profiles several of the more notorious scam artists who operated over the years, including Banana Anna, who claimed seventeen encounters with the slippery fruit but whose perpetual claims landed her not on easy street but in prison. He also reveals, however, that insurance fraudsters are often small, loosely affiliated groups of collaborators, not an organized national racket. Dornstein describes efforts by law enforcement agencies and insurance companies to combat what is always a thorny problem that can make lawyers and insurance providers look like bullies instead of heroes.
Indeed, in Dornstein's account, insurance companies do not come off as innocent victims of fraud; instead, he details their own brand of nefarious behavior in vigorous lobbying for caps on damage awards, making spurious claims about the societal damage caused by spiraling damages awarded by juries, and attempts to "place ads in magazines to try to pollute the minds of prospective jurors," noted Edward M. Ricci in Trial. Dornstein also rejects claims of fundamental innocence from trial lawyers, whose jobs consist at one end of the spectrum of getting the largest possible award for their client and at the other of placing every possible legal obstacle in the path of a person making a personal injury claim. Still, there can be no doubt that fraud is a reality of the personal injury system, and Dornstein offers a look at the problem from personal and historical perspectives. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called Dornstein "a writer of talent who knows how to build tension" with his nonfiction narrative.
In his second book, The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky: A True Story, Dornstein addresses a troubling personal tragedy that compelled him to spend months traveling and doing research in an attempt to capture the echoes of a vibrant life cut bitterly short by terrorist violence. David Dornstein was Ken's cherished older brother, a brilliant, reckless, handsome lad some six years Ken's senior; a writer and artist whose influence on his younger brother was deep and profound. In 1988, at the age of twenty-five, David Dornstein died in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Devastated by the loss, Ken eventually felt the need to tell his brother's story, to become the executor of a literary career that hadn't yet blossomed. To that end, Ken began the process of sorting through David's voluminous notebooks and unpublished writings, assembling the book that his brother would not have the opportunity to produce. In doing so, he learned deep secrets about his brother's background, some quite disturbing, but also validated the life of a young talent brutally swept from the sky at a young age. "There are powerful, chilling moments in this story," observed a Kirkus Reviews reviewer, including Ken's trip to Lockerbie to stand on the spot where David's body was recovered—the backyard of Ella Ramsden's home. Other elements add intrigue to the story; for example, Ken's wife was once one of David's serious girlfriends. With time, the years spent assembling David's story, and the publication of his memoir, Ken reports that he has finally come to terms with the tragedy. "While Ken Dornstein could not save his brother from the doomed flight, he has given David's romantic dream of posthumous literary fame the breath of life, and redeemed their relationship through the immortality of prose," commented reviewer James Fant on SFGate.com. "As the memorial of a bright, engaging personality, this book has surely achieved its mission."
Dornstein's story of David's life, his "relationship with his brother, and of his own self-examination is a startlingly honest, completely absorbing look at loss and brotherly love," commented Vanessa Bush in Booklist. His memoir is "characterized by a surpassing drive to express truths as he investigates the emotional landscape of loss" after the David's death, commented School Library Journal reviewer Lynn Nutwell. Library Journal contributor Margaret Heilbrun observed that Dornstein's memoir is "loving, honest, and moving precisely because there is never a heavy hand at play." Benjamin Alsup, writing in Esquire, remarked that Dornstein has "written a book that transcends its subject, becoming a meditation upon not only his brother's life but his own. All of ours."
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
BOOKS
Dornstein, Ken, The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky: A True Story, Random House (New York, NY), 2006.
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 1, 2005, Vanessa Bush, review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, p. 4.
Boston Globe, March 25, 2006, David Mehegan, "Brother's Keeper," review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
Entertainment Weekly, April 14, 2006, Gregory Kirschling, "His Brother's Keeper," profile of Ken Dornstein, p. 51.
Esquire, March, 2006, Benjamin Alsup, "Big Book of the Month," review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, p. 88.
Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2006, review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, p. 69.
Library Journal, March 15, 2006, Margaret Heilbrun, review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, p. 78.
New York Times, April 19, 2006, William Grimes, "A Brother's Journey for the Truth about Lockerbie," review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
Philadelphia Inquirer, April 5, 2006, Art Carey, "Family's Letters Carried Voice to Author," profile of Ken Dornstein; April 5, 2006, Art Carey, "Author Pens a Poignant Tribute to Brother, a Lockerbie Victim," review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
Publishers Weekly, October 14, 1996, review of Accidentally, on Purpose: The Making of a Personal Injury Underground in America, p. 68; December 12, 2005, review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, p. 49.
San Diego Union Tribune, April 1, 2006, Debra Ginsberg, "About a 'Boy,'" review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
School Library Journal, July, 2006, Lynn Nutwell, review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, p. 134.
Sunday Herald (Scotland), June 18, 2006, Vicky Allan, review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
Telegraph (London, England), August 13, 2006, Louise Carpenter, "Wooly Hats and Fluffernutter Spread," review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky; September 7, 2006, Christopher Tayler, "Afterlife of a Victim of Lockerbie," review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
Trial, August, 1997, Edward M. Ricci, review of Accidentally, on Purpose, p. 66.
Village Voice, March 3, 2006, Carla Blumenkranz, "For David, with Love and Squalor," review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
ONLINE
About.com, http://www.about.com/ (September 23, 2006), Shawn Stufflebeam, review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
Bookreporter.com, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (September 23, 2006), biography of Ken Dornstein; (September 23, 2006), Shannon McKenna, review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
Boy Who Fell out of the Sky Web site,http://www.boywhofelloutofthesky.com (September 23, 2006).
Canadian Broadcasting Company Web site,http://www.cbc.ca/ (April 6, 2006), Alec Scott, "Brother's Keeper," review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
Life Matters,http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/ (April 3, 2006), "Feature: The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky," profile of Ken Dornstein.
SFGate.com, http://www.sfgate.com/ (March 26, 2006), James Fant, "Tribute to a Brother Lost in Plane Crash," review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
TheColumnists.com, http://www.thecolumnists.com/ (September 23, 2006), Maury Allen, "A Family Tragedy Becomes a Memorable New Book," review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
TimeOut Online,http://www.timeout.com/ (June 19, 2006), Gabriel Tate, review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky.
Week Online,http://www.theweekmagazine.com/ (September 23, 2006), review of The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky. *