"Displacement and pursuit of refuge are issues as old as human civilization. Both are also defining and disruptive for contemporary politics. And the best place to start grasping the connections between age-old problems and present predicaments is Andreas Kossert's The Uprooted . Kossert weaves together moving narratives, conceptual clarifications, and deeper analyses, though the last are always worn lightly and human experience foregrounded. Germany is at the center of his story, as both a country of uprooting and a host to many more recently uprooted. More examples come from the rest of Europe and the Near East. What it means to belong is addressed as well as what it means to flee. But in the end the main point of this compelling book is the historical ubiquity of refugees and, sadly, of limits on sympathy and hospitality.

Well written, well translated, and very well worth reading.".