(A dual citizen of Germany and the United States, Topper Sherwood lives in Berlin.)
Contact: toppersherwood@gmail.com
Book-in-progress: New Stories from the Weimar Bauhaus.
In 1919, a group of friends in Vienna nurtured dreams of future accomplishment in literature and the arts. New fields of opportunity seemed open to them — in theater writing and production, in photography and film, in architectural design, fashion and textiles. Adventurous and enterprising, this small group followed their art instructor, Johannes Itten, to his new post at the recently-opened and revolutionary Bauhaus state school in Weimar, led by its founder and director, Walter Gropius. There, Itten’s students became the most active and influential intellectual circle in the history of the German Bauhaus.
(This book-length, nonfiction manuscript is currently seeking a publisher.)
Book: Carla Rising — A Novel by Topper Sherwood.
Carla Rising follows the injustice and violence endured by a real community of coal miners, standing up to callous industrialists and corrupt law-enforcement officials to win decent working conditions, fair pay and greater regard for human life. Based on a real story.
Book: Just Good Politics: The Life of Raymond Chafin, Appalachian Boss.
Just Good Politics tells the stories of Raymond Chafin (1917-2008), an old-time mountain political boss who “managed” elections in his remote part of the world for state governors, US senators, and, in 1960, for American President John F. Kennedy. (The book tells the remarkable “behind-the-scenes” story of how JFK and his allies won the vital Democratic primary election in Chafin’s state, West Virginia.)
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After working for daily newspapers and The Associated Press, Topper Sherwood began work as a freelancer, selling stories to various U.S. journals, including Time, Business Week, Boston Globe, Chronicle of Higher Education, Preservation News (National Trust for Historic Preservation), Smithsonian Air & Space. He simultaneously worked for NGOs and clients in state and national government. His project proposals and successful grant applications have earned substantial operational funding for his clients, funding interesting and largely benign projects.
Before moving to Germany in 2008, Sherwood was a contract writer for the Smithsonian, including the Air & Space Museum’s US$300 million Capital Campaign for the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The job involved writing articles about museum artifacts, as well as columns for- and about high-profile donors.
Inside Smithsonian Research
article on “The Cinema Effect” Exhibit at the Hirshhorn, 2008. (PDF)
Inside Smithsonian Research
article on Lincoln Exhibit
in The Portrait Gallery (PDF)
