Mickey Bergman has advocated for the release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan from Russia, and he’s fighting to help hostages in Gaza. The work is never black and white, he says: “It’s never about good and evil. It’s never about an ultimate value you pursue — it’s about clashing values.
” He calls his work “fringe diplomacy” because it’s behind the scenes. Bergman isn’t a government official but still spends years trying to get Americans out of foreign jails where they’ve been wrongfully detained. As he writes in his book “In the Shadows”: “To be successful, we need to get inside the heads of some of the world’s most infamous leaders and strongmen so we can figure out how we can most effectively influence them.
To tap the humanity inside them.” Bergman, 48, will talk about his work and book as a headliner at this year’s St. Louis Jewish Book Festival, which runs Nov.
2-17. His work regarding the Oct. 7 hostages in Gaza will be a timely part of his address.
In a Zoom interview from his home in Arlington, Virginia, he said he would tell the story of Danny Fenster, a journalist accused of sedition after the 2021 coup in Myanmar. He wants to explain some of the process of negotiating and the role of emotional intelligence and personalities. Included in that may be Bergman’s own personality.
He says that negotiators are different. Calling himself a “semi-introvert,” Bergman says he’s not a “bully” and doesn’t “bluff.” “I go .