{"product_id":"notes-on-a-foreign-country-9781472153883","title":"Notes on a Foreign Country","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Deeply honest and brave . . . A sincere and intelligent act of self-questioning . . . Hansen is doing something both rare and necessary'' - Hisham Matar, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the wake of the 9\/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq, Suzy Hansen was enjoying success as a journalist for a New York newspaper. Increasingly, though, the disconnect between the chaos of world events and the response at home took on pressing urgency for her. Seeking to understand the Muslim world that had been reduced to scaremongering headlines, she moved to Istanbul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHansen arrived in Istanbul with romantic ideas about a city perched between East and West, and a naïve sense of the Islamic world beyond. Over the course of years of living in Turkey and traveling in Greece, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iran, she learned a great deal about these countries and their cultures. But the most unsettling surprise would be what she learned about her own country - and herself, an American abroad in\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDeeply honest and brave\u003c\/b\u003e . . . A \u003cb\u003esincere and intelligent\u003c\/b\u003e act of self-questioning . . . Hansen is doing something both \u003cb\u003erare and necessary\u003c\/b\u003e * Hisham Matar, The New York Times Book Review (cover) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eElegant and persuasive\u003c\/b\u003e * the Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eArdent, often lovely\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003cb\u003eIf Noam Chomsky could write like this\u003c\/b\u003e, Hansen's work would already be done. * Karl Vick, TIME *\u003cbr\u003eAnchored in the work of James Baldwin, who spent several emancipatory years in Istanbul, her memoir is \u003cb\u003ea piercingly honest critique of the unexamined white American life. \u003c\/b\u003e * the New Yorker *\u003cbr\u003eA fluid amalgam of memoir, journalism and political critique - and \u003cb\u003ea very readable challenge \u003c\/b\u003eto American exceptionalism . . . \u003ci\u003eNotes\u003c\/i\u003e is also a paean to Istanbul, written by a woman in a state of \"emotional genuflection\" to the city that has welcomed her in. * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eHansen turns a coming-of-age travelogue into a geopolitical memoir of sorts, \u003cb\u003ewithout sacrificing personal urgency in the process\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Her long stay in Istanbul (she's still there) gives her an outsider's vantage on myopic American arrogance\u003cb\u003e that is bracing\u003c\/b\u003e. And her \u003cb\u003efascinating insider's view\u003c\/b\u003e of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rise upends Western simplicities . . . The experience is \u003cb\u003econtagious.\u003c\/b\u003e * Ann Hulbert, The Atlantic *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCompelling\u003c\/b\u003e . . . [Hansen] \u003cb\u003evividly captures\u003c\/b\u003e the disorientation we experience when our preconceived notions collide with uncomfortable discoveries . . .\u003cb\u003e Rare and refreshing\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Hansen's principal injunction to Americans to understand how others view them and their country's policies is \u003cb\u003etimely and urgent.\u003c\/b\u003e * Ali Wyne, The Washington Post *\u003cbr\u003eSuzy Hansen's \u003ci\u003eNotes on a Foreign Country\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ean essential, compelling read \u003c\/b\u003eof an American woman's coming of age and her experience abroad. Hansen describes how her own narrative of the United States' role in geopolitics began to unravel only once she stepped out of her insular life in New York and into the unfamiliar world of Istanbul. With\u003cb\u003e colorful anecdotes, observations, and telling interviews\u003c\/b\u003e, Hansen\u003cb\u003e seamlessly weaves together\u003c\/b\u003e the complex fabric of Turkish society, and with that presents a fresh look at the United States and the perceptions abroad of its foreign policy and of its people. * Lynsey Addario, photographer and the author of It’s What I Do *\u003cbr\u003e[Hansen] asks \u003cb\u003eprobing and difficult questions\u003c\/b\u003e that left me \u003cb\u003eruminating about their significance\u003c\/b\u003e in our current political climate . . . \u003cb\u003eAn insightful read\u003c\/b\u003e for any American who is, has been, or will be living abroad . . . Hansen's book serves as \u003cb\u003ea call to serious reflection and action\u003c\/b\u003e for white Americans, even, and perhaps especially, the liberal, well traveled, and well intentioned. * Rebecca Barr, Los Angeles Review of Books *\u003cbr\u003eTo be an American is of itself, George Santayana once wrote, a moral condition and education. \u003ci\u003eNotes on a Foreign Country \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eembraces this fate with a unique blend of passionate honesty, coruscating insight, and tenderness\u003c\/b\u003e. A book of \u003cb\u003eextraordinary power\u003c\/b\u003e, it \u003cb\u003eachieves something very rare: it opens up new ways of thinking and feeling\u003c\/b\u003e. * Pankaj Mishra, author of Age of Anger *\u003cbr\u003eIt is rare to come across an American writer who has moved through the world ? especially the Islamic world ? with the \u003cb\u003eacute self-awareness and thoughtfulness\u003c\/b\u003e of Suzy Hansen. She has deftly blended memoir, reportage, and history to produce a book of \u003cb\u003egreat beauty and intellectual rigor\u003c\/b\u003e. Everybody interested in America and the Middle East \u003cb\u003emust read it\u003c\/b\u003e. * Basharat Peer, author of A Question of Order *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNotes On a Foreign Country\u003c\/i\u003e is at once a kaleidoscopic look at modern Turkey, a meditation on American identity in an age of American decline, and \u003cb\u003ea gripping intellectual bildungsroman. I'm in awe of this wise, coruscating book\u003c\/b\u003e. * Michelle Goldberg, author of The Goddess Pose *\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's really quite simple: if you have any interest at all in how the non-Western world views America and Americans, \u003cb\u003eyou must read Suzy Hansen's beautifully composed memoir\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eNotes on a Foreign Country\u003c\/i\u003e. And when America's leaders complain ? while campaigning and in office ? that there is \"great hatred\" for the US (and that they want to get to the bottom of it),\u003cb\u003e it should be required reading \u003c\/b\u003eby government officials?all the way to the Oval Office.\u003c\/p\u003e * Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ *","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48739404251479,"sku":"9781472153883","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/notes-on-a-foreign-country-9781472153883","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}