Genre: Travel Memoir/Non-Fiction/History/Politics
Description:
“American journalist Eric Czuleger dives into the twilight zone of
statecraft by living in unrecognized nations in order to discover what a
country really is. He begins his journey as a third-grade teacher in Iraqi
Kurdistan at the height of the Kurdish independence movement. Banned by Turkey,
he pivots to Kosovo where he reports during the nation's 10 year anniversary
celebration. Moving on to The Black Hole of Europe, Transnistria, he
arrives in time for the Russian election. Finally, Czuleger infiltrates the
world's first crypto-anarchist nation, Liberland, where he parties with Bitcoin
millionaires and falls into his most challenging position yet: Liberland
Ambassador to Somaliland. There, in the never ending desert, he discovers the
real cost of drawing a new line in the sand.
You Are Not Here: Travels Through Countries that Don't Exist is part
history lesson, memoir, and adventure travelog in the tradition of Bill Bryson,
Louis Theroux, and Anthony Bourdain.”
Author:
Eric Czuleger is a playwright with several
plays to his credit that have been produced from coast to coast. A former Peace
Corps volunteer and the son of a USA Today bestselling novelist, Czuleger has
two novels he’s written that are available as well as his most recent release,
a travel memoir.
Appraisal:
I’ve been a fan of travel memoirs for many decades. As an avid
traveler I find myself comparing the travel memoir author’s experience with my
own, if they visit a place I’ve been, and travel with them vicariously if it is
a place I haven’t been. Some of the experiences I read about I’m unlikely to
experience by myself. I guarantee I’m never going to hike the entire length of
the Appalachian Trail, but have read multiple books to experience it
vicariously. I feel extremely safe saying that those things Eric Czuleger
experienced and the places he visited that are chronicled in this book are not
things I will ever experience or places I’m likely to visit, but I can
definitely learn from his experience. And I did.
The places Eric traveled to and chronicled in this book are places
that see themselves as a country, just like the United States, Canada, or
France is a country, but few, if any of the other countries in the world agree.
Eric experiences the unique culture of these places, sometimes disconcerting
and possibly a bit on the dangerous side. He observes the people and does what
he can to get a feel for the impact of this country’s status with the rest of
the world on its people. The theme running through the entire book is an
attempt to decide exactly what it is that makes a country a country. Will he
come up with the ultimate answer that we’ll all agree with? I’ll let you read
and decide. Whatever the answer to that question, his exploration and
consideration of this was an interesting exercise that got me thinking a lot
about not only countries that might not be an actual country, but also about
the differences, both good and not so good, to those places that clearly are
countries.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
A small amount of adult language.
Format/Typo
Issues:
Review is based on a pre-release ARC (advance reader copy) and I can’t
gauge the final product based on this version.
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words
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