This is the story of an illustrious Romanian-born, Hungarian-
speaking, Vienna-schooled, Columbia-educated and Harvard-
formed middle-class Jewish professor of politics and other 
subjects. Markovits revels in a rootlessness that offers him 
comfort, succor, and the inspiration for his life’s work. As we 
follow his quest to find a home, we encounter his engagement 
with the important political, social and cultural developments of 
five decades on two continents. We also learn about his musical 
preferences, from classical to rock; his love of team sports such 
as soccer, baseball, basketball, and American football; and his 
devotion to dogs and their rescue. Above all, the book analyzes 
the travails of emigration the author experienced twice, moving 
from Romania to Vienna and then from Vienna to New York. 

Markovits’s Candide-like travels through the ups and downs 
of post-1945 Europe and America offer a panoramic view of 
key currents that shaped the second half of the 20th century. 
By shedding light on the cultural similarities and differences 
between both continents, the book shows why America 
fascinated Europeans like Markovits and offered them a 
home that Europe never did: academic excellence, intellectual 
openness, cultural diversity, and religious tolerance. America 
for Markovits was indeed the “beacon on the hill,” despite the 
ugliness of its racism, the prominence of its everyday bigotry, the 
severity of its growing economic inequality, and the presence of 
other aspects that mar this worthy experiment’s daily existence.

Now available on AMAZON and BARNES & NOBLE

Andrei Markovits is The Karl W. Deutsch 

Collegiate Professor of Comparative Politics and 

German Studies at the University of Michigan 

in Ann Arbor. His extensive scholarly work has 

appeared in 15 languages and he has taught at 

universities in the United States, Israel, Germany, 

Austria and Switzerland!

