suzyhansen

[suzyhansen]

Book

My first book Notes on a Foreign Country was a Finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction, and the winner of the Overseas Press Club’s Cornelius Ryan Award for Best Nonfiction Book on International Affairs.

Here is an excerpt in the Guardian. 

You can buy it here: Amazon, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop

And here are some reviews:

One of The Times Literary Supplement’s “Books of the Year 2018″ -- TLS

One of the Guardian’s “50 Writers You Should Read Now” -- The Guardian

One of the New York Times’ “100 Notable Books of 2017″ -- NYT

One of the “10 Best Books of 2017” -- New York Magazine

One of “Our Favorite Books of 2017″ -- The Progressive

One of the 25 “Best Books of 2017″ -- Bookpage

One of LitHub’s “Best Reviewed History & Politics Books of 2017″ -- Literary Hub

“Her book is a deeply honest and brave portrait of an individual sensibility reckoning with her country’s violent role in the world ... ‘Notes on a Foreign Country’ is a sincere and intelligent act of self-questioning ... Hansen is doing something both rare and necessary; she is tracing the ways in which we are all born into histories, into national myths and, if we are unfortunate enough, into the fantasies of an empire.” -- Hisham Matar, The New York Times Book Review (cover review)

“A fluid amalgam of memoir, journalism and political critique — and a very readable challenge to American exceptionalism. Americans’ sense of their innocence, argues Hansen, renders them incapable not only of a sense of tragedy, but of love.” -- Alice Troy-Donovan, Financial Times

“Notes on a Foreign Country has gotten a good deal of attention, and deservedly so ... She is disarmingly candid.” -- Paul Baumann, Commonweal

“Extraordinary ... This is a beautiful, angry, sad piece of writing that every American should read as we try to live in a world that has long known things about us that we are only now coming to understand.” -- Ruth Conniff, The Progressive

“Passionately argued ... An insightful writer with remarkable powers of observation.” -- Kaya Genç, The New York Review of Books

“Her memoir is a piercingly honest critique of the unexamined white American life.” -- The New Yorker 

“Written with compassion and a deep thirst for justice, this book is a must for anyone struggling to make sense of the rapidly changing times we live in—one in which, as much our nation’s leaders continue to assert themselves, American hegemony is being ever more called into question.” -- Jeannine M. Pitas, America: The Jesuit Review

“Hansen’s sustained self-criticism indicts the white American system itself and, in the process, does the field of journalism a great service with her humility, introspection, and willingness to defy the establishment line.” -- Belen Fernandez, Jacobin

“This combination of historical and political analysis combined with Hansen’s musings about her own identity create a narrative that defies categorization. While it bears traces of memoir and of travel writing, her methodology also taps into ethnography and political theory.” -- Rebecca Barr, Los Angeles Review of Books

“It would be difficult for an American reader to not feel changed by this book.” -- Andrew Wessels, Los Angeles Review of Books

“... A compelling exhortation to introspection: Hansen urges Americans to recognize the perspectives that shape — and sometimes distort — how they understand their country’s role in the world ... She vividly captures the disorientation we experience when our preconceived notions collide with uncomfortable discoveries ... It is rare and refreshing for an observer to exhibit this level of candor about her internal tensions ... Timely and urgent.” -- Ali Wyne, The Washington Post

“The innocuous title of Suzy Hansen’s “Notes on a Foreign Country” offers little sense of the eloquent and impassioned prose that lies within the book’s covers.” -- Tom Zelman, Minneapolis StarTribune

“Notes on a Foreign Country is Hansen's ardent, often lovely attempt to take self-awareness overseas ... If Noam Chomsky could write like this, Hansen's work would already be done.” -- Karl Vick, Time

"Hansen turns a coming-of-age travelogue into a geopolitical memoir of sorts, without sacrificing personal urgency in the process . . . Her long stay in Istanbul (she’s still there) gives her an outsider’s vantage on myopic American arrogance that is bracing. And her fascinating insider’s view of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rise upends Western simplicities . . .The experience is contagious." ―Ann Hulbert, The Atlantic

“Searching and searing ... [Hansen] combines a brisk history of America’s anguished intervention in the region; artful reporting on how citizens in Turkey and its neighbors view the United States today; and unsparing self-reflection to explain how she, an Ivy League-educated journalist, could be so ignorant of the extent of her country’s role in remaking the post-World War II world ... Hansen writes with both authority and humility and, occasionally, with sharp beauty.” -- Barbara Spindel, The Christian Science Monitor

“Lucid, reflective, probing, and poetic, Hansen’s book is also a searing critique of the ugly depths of American ignorance, made more dangerous because the declining U.S. imperial system coincides with decay at home. The book is a revelatory indictment of American policy both domestic and foreign, made gripping by Hansen’s confident . . . distillation of complicated historical processes and her detailed, evocative descriptions of places, people, and experiences most American audiences can’t imagine.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review)

“Hansen’s must-read book makes the argument that Americans, specifically white Americans, are decades overdue in examining and accepting their country’s imperial identity ... [Her] argument goes beyond the factual assertion that Americans are ignorant of the country’s long, complicated, invasive histories with many other countries around the world. She makes the paradigm-breaking claim that what Americans are taught about their national and personal identities disallows the very acquisition of this knowledge.” -- Booklist (starred review)

“To be an American is of itself, George Santayana once wrote, a moral condition and education. Notes on a Foreign Country embraces this fate with a unique blend of passionate honesty, coruscating insight, and tenderness. A book of extraordinary power, it achieves something very rare: it opens up new ways of thinking and feeling.” ―Pankaj Mishra, author of Age of Anger “It is rare to come across an American writer who has moved through the world―especially the Islamic world―with the acute self-awareness and thoughtfulness of Suzy Hansen. She has deftly blended memoir, reportage, and history to produce a book of great beauty and intellectual rigor. Everybody interested in America and the Middle East must read it.” ―Basharat Peer, author of A Question of Order “Notes On a Foreign Country is at once a kaleidoscopic look at modern Turkey, a meditation on American identity in an age of American decline, and a gripping intellectual bildungsroman. I’m in awe of this wise, coruscating book.” ―Michelle Goldberg, author of The Goddess Pose “It’s really quite simple: if you have any interest at all in how the non-Western world views America and Americans, you must read Suzy Hansen’s beautifully composed memoir Notes on a Foreign Country. And when America’s leaders complain―while campaigning and in office―that there is “great hatred” for the U.S. (and that they want to get to the bottom of it), it should be required reading by government officials―all the way to the Oval Office.” ―Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ

[suzyhansen]

Stories

Crimes of the Century: How Israel, with the help of the U.S., broke not only Gaza but the foundations of international humanitarian law. New York Magazine, June 2025

The Price of American Safety: Can anyone grasp the realities of occupation and the war on terror if they haven’t been on the receiving end? The New York Review of Books, March 2025

The Specter of Genocide: What happens if the U.S. is implicated in the worst crime? New York Magazine, February 2024

On Gaza, Ukraine and the War on Terror: American foreign policy in 2023. The New York Times, December 2023

Twenty Years of Outsourced War: On the novelist and essayist Phil Klay. The New York Review of Books, October 2023

The Turkish Elections Swung from Hope to Despair. The New Yorker, May 2023

Turkey’s Earthquake Election: Erdogan’s 20 years in power. The New Yorker, May 2023

The End of the End of American Exceptionalism: On the anniversary of Jan. 6th. New York Magazine, July  2021

Finding Truth Online in Turkey: Internet censorship in the Age of Erdogan. The New York Times Magazine, November 2019

Our Shared Fate: On the US’s long history with El Salvador. The Nation, September 2019

New World Borders: A review of Suketu Mehta’s book on the imperialist history of the migrant crisis. Bookforum, September 2019

The Era of People Like You Is Over: How Turkey Purged its Intellectuals. New York Times Magazine, July 2019

What Remains of the Turkish Press. Columbia Journalism Review, June 2019

Timeless Life in the Grand Bazaar: The rise and fall of Istanbul’s oldest shopping mall. Lapham’s Quarterly, March 2019

Aggro-texting from the Syrian Jihad: A review of Asne Seierstad’s Two Sisters. New York Times Book Review, May 2018

“What Difference is Trump for Us?” How politics and culture in America look from Istanbul today. The New Republic, April 2018

Istanbul Blues: Is the city’s beauty eternal? The New York Review of Books, February 2018

State of Sleaze: Erdogan’s Authoritarian Hustle. The Baffler, December 2017

Trump Is Making Americans See America the Way the Rest of the World Did: The Washington Post, September 2017

Reading Erdogan’s Ambitions in Turkey’s New Mosques: What do all these new houses of worship mean? The New York Times Magazine, June 2017

A Little Respect: An account of the tricky nuclear negotiations with Iran. Bookforum, June 2017

Inside Turkey’s Purge: As the ruling party expands the ranks of its enemies, life in a fragile democracy becomes stranger and stranger. The New York Times Magazine, April 2017

Regarding the Pain of Others: Alia Malek's memoir of Syria. Bookforum, February 2017

A Magical Place Before the Violence Began: On whether to leave Istanbul. Vogue, January 2017

Corruptions of Empire: Getting over the indispensable-nation complex. The Baffler, December 2016

When in French: Lauren Collins’ memoir of falling in love in another language. The New York Times Book Review, September 2016

The Erdogan Loyalists and the Syrian Refugees: A portrait of one Istanbul neighbourhood. The New York Times Magazine, July 2016

The March of Folly: A diplomat’s memoir of two American wars. Bookforum, June 2016

The Face of Justice: A profile of Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s antitrust czar. Foreign Policy, March 2016

The Negotiator: A profile of Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief. Vogue, February 2016

Continental Divide: A profile of Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. The New York Times Magazine, May 2015

Diary: In Istanbul. London Review of Books, May 2015

"It Had the Strange Light of Hell": The worst industrial disaster in Turkey's history killed 301 men. This is the story of two who survived. The New York Times Magazine, November 2014

America's Long Holiday: When Narcissism Attacks. The Baffler, November 2014

The Nowhere War: Thirteen years into the Afghan invasion, the Americans lack a vision. Bookforum, June 2014

Whose Turkey is It?: On Erdogan, Gulen, and the Gezi Protests. New York Times Magazine, February 2014

The Conquering Hero: A new look at the colorful career of T.E. Lawrence reveals a troubled legacy. Bookforum, September 2013

Turkey's Women Strike Back: The New York Review of Books, August 2013

Peace in Our Time?: A new diplomatic road map for the Middle East seems likely to mire the American empire in familiar territory. Bookforum, April 2013

How Zara Grew into the World's Largest Fashion Retailer: The New York Times Magazine, November 2012

Hope in the Wreckage: What can Mississippi learn from Iran? The New York Times Magazine, July 2012

The Economic Vision of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Millionaires: Will they help the poor? Bloomberg Businessweek, April 2012

The Expendable Sex: A review of Elif Shafak's novel Honour. Financial Times, March 2012

The Assault on Turkish Journalists Continues: Erdogan and the press. The New Republic, March 2012

Istanbul's Art Boom-Bubble: The capital of the old Ottoman empire is hot. The question is whether that's all it is. New York Times Magazine, February 2012

Suzanne Mubarak, Egypt's Mean Queen: The former first lady controlled Egypt from behind the scenes, profiting from its misery. A year after the revolution, she still lives in luxury. Newsweek, January 2012

The Strongman: Can Turkey's democracy survive Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan? The New Republic, June 2011

The Excavation of Melancholy: A review of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar's A Mind at Peace. The New Republic, May 2011

Tone-Deaf: The ear-splitting decline of a religious ritual in Turkey. The New Republic, March 2011

The Global Imam: What does the leader of the world's most influential Islamic movement really want? The New Republic, November 2010

Ireland's Reckoning: On the brink of accepting an international bailout, the former economic superstar of Europe may be going the way of Greece. Bloomberg Businessweek, November 2010

Near Eastern Promises: A review of two books on Turkey and Iran. Bookforum, September 2010

Life Amid the Ruins: An economic collapse, the biggest bailout in EU history, and sweeping government reforms have shocked Greece. A cover story on the country's new misery, and opportunity. Bloomberg Businessweek, July 2010

Monsoon Wedding Crashers: I go to a million weddings in Delhi and learn something about India's new rich. GQ, June 2010

Ottomania: Turkey's imperial dreams. The New Republic, June 2010

Mr. Pamuk's Neighborhood: A letter from Istanbul. The New York Times Book Review, November, 2009

The Importance of Elsewhere: Why did James Baldwin, the most incisive and prophetic observer of the complexities of race in America, spend much of the 1960s in Istanbul? The National, June 2009

To the East: A review of Christopher de Bellaigue's Rebel Land: Among Turkey's Forgotten Peoples. The National, May 2009

The Man Who Loved Children: Review of Adam Gopnik's Through the Children's Gate. The Nation, November 2006

Slope Opera: The gentrification of Fort Greene. The New York Observer, October 2006

Slope Opera: Trying to understand Fairway. The New York Observer, August, 2006

Woody Allen: An Interview on His 70th Birthday. The New York Observer, December 2005

Surrender the Green: I go to the U.S. Open, the golf tournament. The New York Observer, June 2005