A CRY FROM AFAR

Price: 39.90 €

Author: Stephen (Stjepan) Asić

Pages: 388

Photographs: 160

Binding: softcover

Colour: black and white/colour

Dimensions: 23 x 28 cm

Year of publication: 2021.

About the book

The memoir A Cry from Afar, by author Stephen (Stjepan) Asić, provides an overview of the life of Croats from (Western) Australia in the period from 1976 to 2016, through an account of personal events and experiences. The title itself already hints at the author’s motive for writing the book. A cry or a call for help, the shouting or moaning of pain or the singing from a distance, from a distant alien new home, is actually the author’s desire not to forget one, as well as many other lives of displaced Croats around the world, in this case in far Western Australia. Through a vast array of activities, the author lays out his autobiographical story, telling details from his own life and life path critically, but very meticulously, referring to the importance of origin, his work, the importance of society and social connections for the survival of little men, but great people, far from their homeland. Through the author’s narrative the nuances of his distinguished, talent-worthy and significant career are discussed, that of a businessman and a politician, connecting with his works all the facets of past and present Croatian-Australian life.As an initiator, founder, board member and promoter of many activities and organizations important for the preservation of Croatian identity in Western Australia, the author meets and collaborates with several generations of Australian Croats, where the homeland is written in the heart of everyone. In the author’s interpretive descriptions and words lie multi-layered stories about the fates of displaced Croats, who wear their past and history like scars on their body, but whose tracks must not be lost. As it is fitting for a creative process of recollections and a chronicle of events, the author enriched the story of global significance with personal images, ads and press clippings, front pages from official Croatian newspapers, images from public appearances and brochures.

Dr. sc. Rebeka Mesarić Žabčić