Maria Ressa
In From Life Itself, Suzy Hansen does something extraordinary: she plants herself in a single Istanbul neighborhood for a decade and watches democracy unravel—this is journalism at its most courageous and intimate. The frontline of history is right outside your door—this book shows you how to see it.
Phil Klay
Suzy Hansen’s From Life Itself is the most startlingly vivid portrait of the rise of authoritarianism I have read, combining geopolitical, cultural, and economic analysis alongside sharp local reporting. She masterfully tells a complex story with clarity and force, leaving us with questions not only about Turkey, but about the fate of global democracy. A […]
Booklist
With great sympathy and nuance, Hansen shares the intimate lives of an array of Karagümrük’s denizens, all set against Erdoğan’s systematic dismantling of the courts, the press, opposition parties, election integrity, and any other force that might hinder the country’s appropriation by Erdoğan and his AK Party . . . Lessons abound in this fine […]
Mohsin Hamid
The Sufis tell us of two paths to enlightenment: to look inside oneself and find the universe, or to look out at the universe and find oneself. Here Suzy Hansen is doing both. In her intimate examination of one neighborhood of one city of one country that is not her own, she reveals to us […]
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From Life Itself zooms in on a single Istanbul neighborhood and, in the process, manages to capture the political mood of an entire country. Think of it as geopolitics at street level … For readers interested in geopolitics, this is the kind of book that reminds you that big political shifts rarely feel “big” while […]
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Elif Batuman
From Life Itself is a dizzying tour de force: the simultaneously cosmic and microscopic record of a transformative decade in Istanbul, Turkey, and the world. Current events and political analyses are deftly interwoven with, and sometimes subverted by, firsthand accounts of life as it is actually lived. By turns gutting and exhilarating, filled with vitality […]
Kirkus Reviews
Fascinating . . . An urgent cautionary tale for American readers . . . Hansen’s deep-rooted reporting has undeniable gravitas . . . A rich portrait of a community—and a country—in the shadow of an increasingly powerful president.