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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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14/99
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17/99

Critics' Rating Index

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12/99

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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

"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

"Kurczy becomes embedded in the community, and with compassion and a journalist's eye he delivers a compelling portrait of a town where people struggle with the same issues as the rest of America, just a little more quietly."

Amy Scribner· BookPage Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"By the time Kurczy does return to the book's ostensible theme, the clichés are coming fast and furious ..."

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

"Those needing a reminder of the simple pleasure of reconnecting with real people in real life will enjoy the journey."

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

"Nonetheless, the story remains captivating."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Kurczy's meandering prose readily dips into anecdote and almost never arrives at the point too soon ..."

Evan Malmgren· The Nation Read review ↗ Near the Top

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