- Hardcover: 294 pages
- Publisher: Little Brown and Company (Mar 17 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0316294780
- ISBN-13: 978-0316294782
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.2 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 431 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Los Angeles Times correspondent Fritz presents a kaleidoscopic portrait of the world's new homeless?displaced by political upheaval or economic blight, by bloodbaths in Liberia, Kuwait and Sri Lanka, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany or the conflict in what used to be Yugoslavia. Fritz, who won a Pulitzer for his reporting from Rwanda, writes from a refreshingly international perspective born of legwork rather than glib assumptions of a "global village." In a departure from his conventional reporting, these frontline dispatches are deliberately hard-boiled and ironic, unfolding like a series of loosely interconnected short stories. He writes with streetwise empathy for his dislocated subjects, among them a software expert from Togo who flees the dictatorship after his mother-in-law informs him that his wife has been murdered by state security goons and a Kuwaiti-born factory worker/computer student in Germany, ostracized by his Arab friends (even though he is of Iraqi descent) who buy into Saddam Hussein's propaganda as Iraq invades Kuwait. Fritz also dramatically profiles heroic interlopers like Viennese private eye Herbert Puchwein, who spirited a busload of orphans out of war-torn Sarajevo, and American relief worker Mary Lightfine, who plunged into Somalia's civil war. Faulting an "inherently weak" United Nations and a timid, reluctant-to-get-involved United States, Fritz boldly calls for the creation of a freestanding global police force, with international volunteers under U.S. command, dedicated to preventing future wars, genocide and forced migrations. Agent, Sloan Harris.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, 50 to 100 million people have been displaced from their homes, the largest such migration in history, according to Fritz, a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. Uprooted by civil war, ethnic strife, or economic conditions, some are displaced within their own borders, and many others have left their home countries entirely. Fritz presents stories of individuals he has interviewed over the past decade. They include East Germans fleeing west, gypsies, Kurds, and refugees from the Yugoslav War, the Iraq-Kuwait War, and the conflicts in Liberia and Rwanda. A surprising number converged on Germany, which at first welcomed them but later closed its borders when too many refugees began to strain social and support systems. Other accounts describe the conditions in refugee camps. The stories are effectively told, but ultimately the book lacks analysis, leaving the reader feeling helpless rather than inspired. Popular collections should nevertheless consider.
-?Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-?Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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First Sentence
THE Gypsy opened the trunk of his car and Michaela got inside. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
THE Gypsy opened the trunk of his car and Michaela got inside. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
A rare extraordinary read...
April 4 2004
Format:Paperback
... as we are sometimes so very fortunate
to stumble upon. Handily makes you stop, think,
reevaluate self and the world around you as
you only thought you knew it.
Only criticism: too short. I want more.
to stumble upon. Handily makes you stop, think,
reevaluate self and the world around you as
you only thought you knew it.
Only criticism: too short. I want more.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Spectacular!
Aug 17 1999
Format:Hardcover
Fritz' repertorial skill and novelistic approach make a less-than-palatable subject read like a gripping detective novel.
His eye for detail and empathy with the people - and the voices - of those tortured souls literally "Lost On Earth" make this book an invaluable document for our fragmented times.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
An all-nighter of a read. I coudn't put this book down.
Mar 4 1999
Format:Hardcover
I stayed up all night reading this book. And I couldn't sleep for a week because I was thinking about the tragedies and triumphs of the people that Mr. Fritz wrote about -- and the implications of the global exodus that the living victims of post-Cold War wars are undertaking to find safety in a callous and all-too-frequently cruel world. "Lost on Earth" has heightened my awareness of crimes against humanity and aroused my sense of goodwill.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
A really great book!
April 2 2000
Format:Hardcover
If I made a list of books everyone should read, this one would right now be number one. Everything that has happened in the last 10,11 years since the breakup of the Soviet Union, is in here- East Germany, Liberia, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia- each story told in the context of the lives of one or a few people, which makes these stories so vivid and real. You'll remember the newspaper headlines, and the stories, but in this book it's like you are experiencing it all for the first time, and personally. Fritz is a terrific writer, I promise you won't be bored. Finally it has very special meaning for Americans. Fritz keeps referring to us a s "the world's only superpower", a concept that hasn't really sunk in for most of us, or most of our "leaders" either. So we really need to do a lot of heavy thinking about what we do, how we act, in fulfilling this historicaly unique role. Buy it!
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