 An early inspiration was the works of George Bernard Shaw, who besides his writing skills and wit, "created dramas out of ideas".By this dictum, Beinhart seeks to "create situations in which ideas - about God, why we go to war, who gets the money, how politics work, what the media actually does, about science and morality - are challenged by circumstances".Recipient of a Raymond Chandler Fulbright Fellowship in Detective and Crime Fiction Writing, Beinhart spent two years at Wadham College in Oxford, England.