An Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, an incredibly vivid and inspiring account of Nicholas Mackey’s travels in Northern Mesopotamia, beautifully illustrated. His journey through history, different cultures and the company of different peoples through the perspective of his own life and early days in Ireland, has important lessons for us all. We must embrace, connect with and understand the richness, variety and cultures of different peoples. Reading and travelling are essential to achieve this. In this book Nicholas Mackey deserves great praise in helping to understand the importance for us all to overcome differences and to live together in harmony, increasingly vital in our troubled world today. This inspiring account of his travels is highly recommended.

Jonathan Shackleton, Antarctic historian and author

“Mackey is an amiable travel companion and his infectious enthusiasm for this fascinating region and its history clearly shines through.” Geographical

Enhanced by countless striking photographs, Nicholas Mackey’s account of his 2019 trip through south-eastern Türkiye opens a revelatory window on the rich history, austere beauty, and present way of life of this ancient land. Traveling through the south-eastern region of the country, he explores the relicts of vanished civilizations, among them Lycian, Persian, Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman. A man of wide-ranging curiosity, he seeks out vendors, craftsmen, tradesmen, and others, portraying their way of life in both words and eloquent photos. Nicholas Mackey is a very personable writer, and here seasons his narrative with apposite reflections on his own childhood and youth in Ireland. Informative and entertaining, An Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia is the ideal vade mecum for a trip to this part of Türkiye—in person or virtually from the confines of an armchair.

Katherine A. Powers, former literary columnist for The Boston Globe

I loved the book, what fun and the detail and explanations are fantastic. A joy to read and illustrated beautifully by Mackey with revealing photographs … that are thought provoking and make the reader want to know a little more of these ancient peoples.

Homer Sykes, photographer

An Irishman in Mesopotamia sits happily in that important hinterland between a literary work, a personal story and a guide book. It is exactly the sort of book a discerning traveller should carry in his Turkish backpack, in the same way that my wife and I took Jan Morris’ Farewell the Trumpets in ours when drifting round India in the late 70s. Mackey’s style brings Yeats together with Ibn Battuta, Marcus Aurelius with the Epic of Gilgamesh, and retail outlets in contemporary Dublin with Mesopotamian shops in Roman times. The irony that a monastery ransacked by the Mongols in 1401 should still be in dispute today is not lost upon Mackey. Not that many authors can turn an 8 day journey into a book about identity, roots and attitude to life and at the same time tell you which is the best restaurant in Mardin. It is a book which could have fallen between two stools, but it doesn’t. It bestrides them.

Rupert Grey, author of Homage to Bangladesh

The detailed content and splendid maps, with text punctuated by snippets of human insight, makes for good reading. Nicholas Mackey takes us with him on his journey through the backwaters of little-known south-east Turkiye. His unique insight into this little-known land is exactly the sort of book needed as a guide by the modern-day traveller wishing to go off the beaten track, yet advance on the works of Karl Baedeker.

Tarka King, author of An Irishman Abroad

Nicholas Mackey’s story about his travels in Mesopotamia is unlike any other travelogue or diary. His explorations span a region where civilisation itself arguably began. Perhaps for the first time since humans evolved, people living here discovered agriculture, and the advantage of groupings into cities, leaving time not only for creating architectural feats, but also for thinking deep thoughts about the Cosmos. Astronomy, philosophy, music literature arguably started in these regions…

Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, MBE, British mathematician and astronomer

Nicholas Mackey is a writer and photographer whose lifelong passion for storytelling and visual exploration began in childhood when he received a camera as a gift. A Trinity College Dublin natural sciences graduate, his diverse career spans teaching, film directing, journalism, commerce, and a stint as diplomatic attaché. A published author and Royal Photographic Society’s 2021 Documentary Photographer of the Year nominee, Nicholas has exhibited at the Royal Academy, London. He is currently Photography Writer for Art Etc. magazine and his latest project, An Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia, intricately weaves travelogue, history, ideas, poetry and captivating photography.

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