The Traveller: Observations from an American in Exile

If you want to know what the world is thinking and feeling _ not the politicians, we know where they stand or pretend to stand _ but the guide in Sierra Leone, the young Algerian Muslim woman who warns we are funding our ``own assassins,'' the Tango dancer in Paris, the Cuban fisherman . . . then this is the book for you. Katakis explores, and when he meets people they confide in him, and what he reports them saying and doing over two decades of travel is often eye-opening, tragic, charming and funny by turns. But more to the point, this book is in many ways a warning that the world is flying apart and governments are losing touch with the people because they have let the people down, and the results could be dire _ and aren't we beginning to see that? This is an insightful book and an enlightening book with the author's movingly dramatic photographs an added bonus. This is a book President Obama _ or at least his foreign policy advisors _ should read.