This Is Not Civilization: A Novel

In the tradition of Prague and White Teeth, This Is Not Civilization is an inspired, sweeping debut novel that hopscotches from Arizona to Central Asia to Istanbul with a well-meaning, if misguided, young Peace Corps volunteer. Jeff Hartig lies at the center of this modern take on the American-abroad tale, which brings together four people from vastly different backgrounds, each struggling with the push and pull of home. A young Apache, Adam Dale, forsakes the reservation for the promise of a world he knows little about. Anarbek Tashtanaliev, of post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, operates a cheese factory that no longer produces cheese. Nazira, his daughter, strains against the confines of their village’s age-old traditions.
With captivating insight, realism, and humor, Robert Rosenberg delivers a sensitive story about the cost of trying to do good in the world. |

A wonderful work; highly recommended.

Library Journal Starred
An ambitious, bighearted debut...intelligent, earnest, and highly readable.

Kirkus Reviews

[A] Politically astute and surprisingly swift read.

TimeOut New York
The details are bracing and exact...journalistic, humane and heart-wrenching. -- Christopher Buckley The New York Times Book Review
What a generous, big-hearted book this is, perceptive enough to catch the goodness in [its characters].

Christian Science Monitor

[an] ambitious, sincere book...[with] many lovely touches.

Newsday
a well-written, engaging, and promising debut.

Booklist, ALA

a brave adventure into the heart of a new world...sparkling.

Los Angeles Times
Rollicking...pitch perfect...a vibrant mix of the serious and the absurd.
Publishers Weekly