The entry for Germany in the Around-The-World project is a 2012 movie on Amazon Prime, A Coffee In Berlin. It’s a day in the life of a Berliner in his early 20s named Niko. HIs is trying to get a cup of coffee–and realizes that he needs to make changes in his life. I have… [Read More]
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Category: Rest of the World
Albania: The Fall of the Stone City
Albania is next up in the alphabetical list of nations. Ismail Kadare is probably the novelist who is best-known outside of the country, often listed as a possible Noble Prize winner. The Fall of the Stone City is a story about the Nazi invasion in World War II. Albania is one of those nations that… [Read More]
United Kingdom: This Is London
My plan for my country-by-country project is to go alphabetically, with a few exceptions. After all, it can take a while to track down a good book or movie about a tiny nation, like Andorra. Meanwhile, I have lots of books accumulated on my shelves about other nations. And that is the case with This… [Read More]
Afghanistan: The Looming Tower
The first installment in my new global blog post series is Afghanistan. I do not want to visit, because it has been at war for 40 years. Afghanistan is caught among China, Iran, Pakistan, and a host of former Soviet Republics. The Soviet invasion was followed by the military and religious rule of the Taliban,… [Read More]
I Can’t Travel, but I Can Read
I just finished reading Andrew Solomon’s book Far and Away: How Travel Can Change the World, which is really good. He is a wonderful writer and reporter. But the book made me sad for two reasons. First, very few magazines pay for and publish the long and detailed pieces that Solomon did these days. Second,… [Read More]
