With me, without me

Astonished American twins on Venice's Campo Santa Margarita, or the corpse of a murdered tramp in Salzburg. Conversations in soon-to-be destroyed Macedonian coffee-houses, and dialogues with forgotten books. Encounters with artists and their works, with life's outsiders and heroes of the zeitgeist. Karl-Markus Gauß, singular explorer of Europe's cultural diversity, has written a journal that covers one year - from August 2000 to July 2001 - and encompasses a wealth of temperaments and topics.
Gauß's log-book combines melancholy and polemic, narratives and reflections, memories and sketches. He portrays people, lifestyles and regions on-the-edge with much understanding. And, sarcastically, he uncovers the truth behind the idle talk of European values, nationalism and globalisation.
Mit mir, ohne mich is an impressive declaration of intellectual independence.