While traveling the road to Elbasan, Keeley and his companions seek to learn about the terrible fifty years of physical and spiritual drought brought on by the Stalinist regime of Enver Hoxha and to see the first steps Albania has taken toward a more democratic government. Along the way, Keeley records in sometimes lyrical and humorous detail their meetings with people rejoicing in their new found freedoms.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Western Media and the European 'Other': Images of Albania in the British Press in the New Millennium (by Gëzim Alpion, University of Birmingham, UK) Asylum Capacity Building in the Balkans: A Rational Answer to Leaders Concerns (by Ridvan Peshkopia, University of Kentucky, USA) Integrating Albania: The Role of the European Union in the Democratization Process (by Judith Hoffmann, Humboldt University, Germany) Political Choice in Albania. The 2005 Albanian Parliamentary Election (by Altin Ilirjani, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA) Review of Bogdani, Mirela and John Loughlin. 2004. Albania and the European Union. European integration and the Prospect of Accession. Tirana, Albania: Dajti 2000 (by Arolda Elbasani, European University Institute, Italy) Continuity or Metamorphosis? Realist Theories and the Anomaly of Medieval International Politics (by Shinasi A. Rama, New York University, USA) Virtual Irredentism? The Redemption and Reification of the Albanian Nation in Cyberspace (by Robert A. Saunders, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA) Electoral Institutions, Social Heterogeneity and Political Party Systems in Eastern Europe (by Altin Ilirjani, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA) Review of Tomes, Jason Hunter. 2004. King Zog of Albania: Europe's Self-Made Muslim Monarch. New York: New York University Press (by Besnik Pula, University of Michigan, USA) Review of King, Russell, Nicola Mai, and Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers (eds). 2005. The New Albanian Migration. Brighton, Portland, UK: Sussex Academic Press (by Ridvan Peshkopia, University of Kentucky, USA)

Travel Writing. Cultural Studies. For one hot week in June of 1995, poet Ron Padgett toured little-known, isolated Albania, in the company of five fellow American and several Albanian writers and editors. With his lively interest in languages, keen eye for detail, and growing sympathy for the difficulties of the long, repressive period from which Albania was just emerging, Padgett documents the country's sights and sounds, its people and places, and its many surprises. His deft prose shines a clear light on this enigmatic country and its fiercely proud people, so hospitable to strangers, so potentially explosive among themselves. Ron Padgett serves as Publications Director of Teachers & Writers Collaborative and teaches Imaginative Writing at Columbia University.

This collection of papers on contemporary issues in Albanian history and anthropology covers a broad range of approaches and forms of analysis. The book includes research on parts of the country that have rarely made an appearance in international scholarship, including recent research on various aspects of urban life in Albania, with several chapters being set in Shkodra, Tirana, Elbasan, and Gjirokastra. Issues of local self-organization or identity processes are presented as well. A third core aspect that is addressed is the continued analysis of new and revealing demographic sources that shed light on the structure and history of the Albanian family. (Series: Studies on South East Europe - Vol. 9)

This is the first major book on Albanian migration, the most significant East-West migration since the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Prevented from leaving their country for over 45 years, the citizens of the Republic of Albania emigrated en masse during the 1990s and the exodus continues. According to the 2001 census, one in five Albanians was a migrant living abroad, mainly in Greece and Italy but also, and increasingly, in a range of other European countries and in North America. The volume offers a comprehensive and integrated understanding of Albanian migration, addressing its temporal and spatial dynamics, its diversity of types and destinations, and the implications of the migration for Albanian society and economic development. Its contributors comprise key researchers on Albanian migration from around the world. The book reflects the wide diversity of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches deployed by researchers studying this phenomenon.

"This academic and personal journey into Albania's post-communist society examines the links between internal and international migration in one of Europe's poorest countries. The author follows rural migrants to urban destination both within Albania and in neighboring Greece. Their lives and experiences are captured in 150 interviews, alongside group discussions and the ethnographic observations. This rich empirical material is analysed with reference to an extensive body of literature. The author's own experience as migrant and reflections as a researcher studying her own communities of origin add valuable insights. The result is a demonstration of the complexity of the links between internal and international migration, especially from a development perspective."--back cover.