UMass Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press

A Portrait of High Albania

Book Jacket: "Long Life to Your Children!" by S. Sherer and M. Senechal

Photographs by Stan Sherer
and text by Marjorie Senechal

Interviews and photographs reveal the beauty and complexity of life in contemporary Albania

Long considered the most mysterious and inaccessible country in Europe, Albania is still little known and poorly understood. To discover how Albanians see the would and their place in it, Stan Sherer and Marjorie Senechal spent three months in the northern mountains, photographing and interviewing people of all ages and all walks of life. In Long Life to Your Children! (the title is an Albanian toast), ordinary men and women invite the reader into their homes and talk about their work, their children, their hopes, and the problems they face as their country emerges into the modern world after nearly fifty years of isolationist communism.

The text includes introductory chapters on Albanian history and customs, as well as several photographic essays that convey a vivid sense of place. The book captures the beauty of the country, the warmth of the people, and the rigors of contemporary Albanian life.

"A splendid introduction to the vibrant land and people of Northern Albania ....Senechal's informed, but enthusiastic text complements Sherer's exquisite images, especially those which capture the quiet dignity of women engaged in everyday tasks."

Joel Halpern and Barbara Kerewsky-Halpern, authors
of A Serbian Village in Historical Perspective
"Offers fascinating and revealing views of this little-known corner of the turbulent Balkans. With a uniquely harmonious marriage of text and pictures, Senechal and Sherer illuminate many levels of Albanian society, from the city professionals to the remote mountain peasants. A noteworthy accomplishment."

Estelle Jussim, author of The Eternal Moment and Other Essays
"An enlightened volume on a country little known to the West. It is more than just informative. It provides insights into the Albanian culture which can instruct any other culture. Beautiful photographs and a clear, well-written text."

Hugh Downs, host of ABC News 20/20

An independent documentary photographer, Stan Sherer received a Fulbright Research Fellowship to photograph daily life in northern Albania.

Author of six books, Marjorie Senechal is the Louise Wolff Kahn Professor of Mathematics at Smith College and director of its program in the History of the Sciences.

European History / Photography / Travel
240 pp., 154 duotone illustrations
9" x 11 1/2" format
LC 96-37827
$45.00s cloth, ISBN 1-55849-096-5
$23.95t paper, ISBN 1-55849-097-3
1997
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