In 1996, Carver, a BBC reporter, travelled throughout Albania, including the remote, mountainous region where the borders of Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania converge. It was a stimulating but frequently chilling experience. Carver conveys the sense of a tribal society constantly operating on the edge of violence. Preteen shepherd boys carry guns without a hint of self-consciousness. Brigands make travel in rural areas a life-threatening gamble. Signs of the repressive Communist past are everywhere, yet Carver also encounters stirring signs of hope for an open, prosperous society. Of course, he travelled and wrote before the subsequent explosion, but he provides us with valuable insight into the culture of a volatile and fiercely independent people and the land they inhabit.