The Laughing Losers of Roana

Karl-Markus Gauß is famed for his beguiling travelogues. This time he meets proud young Assyrians in Sweden, persecuted as Christians in the Orient and forced to flee their homeland, who are now establishing themselves in a new country but still dream of one day returning in triumph to their fatherland. In the remote mountains of Northern Italy he encounters the few remaining Cimbrians, whose language is the oldest spoken form of German, but who are all too aware that both they and their culture are under threat of imminent extinction. And he also travels to Lithuania, where he visits the mysterious Karamites, many of whom consider themselves members of a lost Jewish tribe, while others steadfastly deny any connection to Judaism. Karl-Markus Gauß has brought home wondrous stories to share with us as souvenirs of his journeys into the unknown. His writing is an irresistible blend of historical digression, political analysis and highly atmospheric descriptions of the towns and villages he visited, which, along with sympathetic portraits of the remarkable people he met, results in a unique and lucid reading experience.