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The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence

The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence

by Stephen Kurczy

Dey Street Books ·2021 ·336 pages
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Bottom of the Pile
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14/99
Bottom of the Pile

17/99

Critics' Rating Index

Bottom of the Pile

12/99

Readers' Rating Index

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Scholars' Citation Index

66/99

Volume of Reviews

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About This Book

Deep in the Appalachian Mountains lies the last truly quiet town in America. Green Bank, West Virginia, is a place at once futuristic and old-fashioned: It's home to the Green Bank Observatory, where astronomers search the depths of the universe using the latest technology, while schoolchildren go without WiFi or iPads. With a ban on all devices emanating radio frequencies that might interfere with the observatory's telescopes, Quiet Zone residents live a life free from constant digital connectivity. But a community that on the surface seems idyllic is a place of contradictions, where the provincial meets the seemingly supernatural and quiet can serve as a cover for something darker. Stephen Kurczy embedded in Green Bank, making the residents of this small Appalachian village his neighbors. In The Quiet Zone, he introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters. There is a tech buster patrolling the area for illegal radio waves; "electrosensitives" who claim that WiFi is deadly; a sheriff's department with a string of unsolved murder cases dating back decades; a camp of neo-Nazis plotting their resurgence from a nearby mountain hollow. Amongst them all are the ordinary citizens seeking a simpler way of living. Kurczy asks: Is a less connected life desirable? Is it even possible?


Reviews

"Kurczy finds high drama and dark secrets in the woods, but he also captures the complex beauty of a disconnected way of life that is dying out at an alarming rate ..."

Evan Malmgren· The Nation Read review ↗ Near the Top

"What does all this rural gothic arcana have to do with the Quiet Zone and its slow-motion deterioration under the pressures of modernity?"

Chris Lehmann· The New Republic Read review ↗ Bottom of the Pile

"Ultimately, Kurczy realizes Green Bank is not as silent as the media portrays it, but he brings to life other facets of this town that are even more intriguing."

Amy Scribner· BookPage Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Yet, where Kurczy most impressively goes down the rabbit hole is in his persistent investigation of The Quiet Zone's neo-Nazi white supremacist presence."

Don Oldenburg· USA Today Read review ↗ Near the Top

"A multilayered illustration of a unique community where things aren't always what they seem."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Readers looking to confirm their conviction that disconnecting is a cure-all will be disappointed."

Nir Eyal· The New York Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

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