The Divided Boys of America

The Divided Boys of America is a fuller version of the screenplay of the documentary with the same title, which won the special prize at the Tirana Film Festival in 2012, on the 100th anniversary of Albania's Independence. It contains interviews and testimonies collected since 1994. The reason for the delay in publishing it relates to the topic it deals with and the strong emotions that accompanied me in 2012, when the documentary came out… Today, 33 years later, some of those interviewed are no longer alive. Some of them left me their testimonies as a kind of bequest, to have them written down. I know the book will stir controversy, but I believe myths and their creation close a society, whereas the truths are the best medicine for opening it. In any case, whatever you find in this book in no way diminishes the great figures of Albanian patriotism, but shows that, despite the flaws we may have, each of us can be a patriot in his own way. And patriotism, unlike nationalism, never goes out of fashion.