Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia

Explore the enduring wonder that is the story of Northern Mesopotamia - the Cradle of Civilisation - from an Irish perspective.

Embark on an extraordinary odyssey through south-east Turkiye with Nicholas Mackey as he guides you through a captivating region embraced by the legendary Euphrates and Tigris rivers-the Cradle of Civilisation.

Here he explores the ancient wonders of Antakya, Dara, Harran, Mardin, Gaziantep, and Diyarbakir, peeling back the layers of empires, cultures and peoples that have shaped millennia. Goebeklitepe and Karahan Tepe, near the contemporary city of Sanliurfa/Urfa, stand as iconic archaeological landmarks with the promise to revolutionize our understanding of the past. Artefacts from these locations, dating back nearly 12,000 years, challenge established notions of the origins of civilisation.

His daily journal serves as the genesis of this literary tour-de-force: a seamless blend of travelogue, memoir, history, archaeology, poetry, prose, and memorable imagery - evocative of Nicholas coming of age in Ireland with an unquenchable desire to travel, 'to seek and find' (Whitman).

This is not just an eclectic tale but also will remain an enduring presence in your mind, while inviting you to rethink the fabric of our shared human history.

Proceeds from the sale of this book will go directly to help the communities still affected by the earthquake of February 2023.

Review:

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 Turkiye 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 Turkiye-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...