A closer look
The phrase 'career pivot' doesn't quite cover Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln. Born an Orthodox Jew in Hungary, he somehow managed to become a Presbyterian missionary, then an Anglican priest, and inexplicably, a British Member of Parliament. Unwilling to rest on his laurels, he subsequently worked as a spy for the German Empire, dabbled in right-wing politics, and ultimately reinvented himself as a Buddhist abbot in China. He remains the ultimate historical grifter who simply outran the geopolitical chaos he helped foster.
