Long Life to Your Children!: A Portrait of High Albania [Hardcover]

Marjorie Senechal (Author), Stan Sherer (Author, Photographer)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Massachusetts Pr; illustrated edition edition (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558490965
• ISBN-13: 978-1558490963
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,085,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite photographs, mesmerizing text, October 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Long Life to Your Children!: A Portrait of High Albania (Paperback)

"Long Life to Your Children: A Portrait of High Albania" will lead you on a fascinating visual, intellectual and emotional journey through remote Northern Albania. Senechal's craft as interviewer permits the men and women to speak to us directly of their experince of daily life past and present, and their yearnings and fears for the future. Through these personal stories, we learn also about the history and culture of the country. The Albania we encounter in this book starkly contradicts the images and stereotypes presented in the U.S. media. Sherer's exquisite photographs of these people and their land imbues the text with rare power to engage and provoke the reader. I cannot think of anyone who would not benefit from reading it. It is also beautifully designed and very reasonably priced.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars U befsh Njeqind Vjec, September 22, 2002

By 

Greg Allup (Torrance, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Long Life to Your Children!: A Portrait of High Albania (Paperback)

This book is a definte highlight and must have for anyone intested in Ghegeria (North ALbania). Long Life to your children is an excellent book with fantastic literary content about the culture and way of live for many Malesores (Higlanders) of North Albania. Anyone interested in Gheg clan culture and the typical life of many North ALbanians will find this book of valuable isight. There are also many wonderful photographs throughout the book to accomapny the text and provide a picture of what the North of The Land of The Eagle looks like. Shume i Mire (Very Good). A definite item to have in your collection of Albania.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A commendable job in discovering the ethos of the Albanians, June 27, 2000

By 

Allan M. Gathercoal "fdoamerica" (Norcross, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Long Life to Your Children!: A Portrait of High Albania (Paperback)

Albania is a third-world European nation with dismal gray communist block buildings littering the cities, and more than 600,000 concrete pill boxes land studding its countryside and beaches. For the past fifty years, under the tyrannical dictatorship of the communist leader Enver Hoxha and his isolation from the rest of the world, the people of Albania have languished. After 50 years of no contact with the outside world what must the Albanians have thought when they awoke in 1991 to the fast-paced, competitive world of the 21st century?

Northern Albania (High Albania) is a totally different land than the South. High Albania is an intriguing part of the country that retains separate customs and identity. Marjorie Senechal interviewed scores of ordinary men and women with the intent of discovering who these people are, what have they been through, and what does the future look like to them. She invites the common people of Albania to talk candidly - and talk they do. Without the past fears of being beaten, jailed, or even killed for expressing their thoughts they now talk openly about their children, their work, their problems, their fears and even their dreams. Each interview is accompanied by portrait style photos. Stan Sherer has chosen B&W photography to capture the soul of this suffering country. Sherer does a commendable job in discovering both the ethos of these people and the beauty of this part of the country. His photos reveal a balance between the despair and backwardness of Albania, and the strength of will and hospitality that are found in its people .

The harmonious marriage of text and photos is divided into four chapters: ancient history, the past 100 years, the emerging present, and the hope for the future. In Albania it remains a daily struggle just to survive. Yet despite these difficulties, the traditional Albania toast - "Long life to your children" - is a cry for the future, a future of dreams fulfilled.