A stunning portrait of an Appalachian community, the people who call it home, and the enduring human quest for quiet
Deep in the Appalachian Mountains lies the last truly quiet town in America. Green Bank, West Virginia, is a place at once futuristic and old-fashioned: It’s home to the Green Bank Observatory, where astronomers search the depths of the universe using the latest technology, while schoolchildren go without WiFi or iPads. With a ban on all devices emanating radio frequencies that might interfere with the observatory’s telescopes, Quiet Zone residents live a life free from constant digital connectivity. But a community that on the surface seems idyllic is a place of contradictions, where the provincial meets the seemingly supernatural and quiet can serve as a cover for something darker.
PRAISE
The Nation: “Part folk history, part gonzo travelogue, The Quiet Zone colorfully annotates an elaborate contradiction: a last bastion of the disconnected world, making its final stand at the foot of a 485-foot radio telescope that astronomers use to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Kurczy finds high drama and dark secrets in the woods, but he also captures the complex beauty of a disconnected way of life that is dying out at an alarming rate.” Nov. 22, 2021.
“It’s like Twin Peaks but for real.” — journalist and author Lee Woodruff
The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) called the book “highly engaging. … The turn Kurczy’s book takes, from an investigation of silence and solitude to a free-ranging exposé of radical wrong-headedness, earns it a place in the long literature of American craziness, with a twist that applies to us all: our imprisonment by technology.” Oct 1, 2021.
The Daily Mail (UK) gave the book 4/5 stars and said “Kurczy did not want his book to be a gawp at moonshiners and hillbillies: his aim was to see whether it’s possible for us to have a healthier relationship with technology if you restrict access to it. There are no easy answers. If you want evidence that switching off completely from technology is desirable or even possible, you won’t find it in this book – although Kurczy supplies touching accounts of how a close-knit community can function offline.” Sept. 25, 2021.
For The New York Times, Nir Eyal called the book “a sober portrait of people stumbling their way into an uncertain future. Readers looking to confirm their conviction that disconnecting is a cure-all will be disappointed. Those needing a reminder of the simple pleasure of reconnecting with real people in real life will enjoy the journey.” Aug. 5, 2021.
USA Today gave the book 3/4 stars and calls it “intriguing,” with “deep reporting” and “relentless investigating.” “A town without cell phones? ‘The Quiet Zone’ explores West Virginia’s ‘magnet for weirdos.’” Aug. 4, 2021.
BookRiot: one of the 10 most interesting reads of 2021. Dec. 8, 2021.
Amazon book of the month for August 2021.
USA Today: one of “5 books not to miss.”
The Washington Post: one of the top 10 books to read in August.
CrimeReads: one of August’s top 5 nonfiction crime books.
Booklist: “An engaging and sympathetic study of the myriad people who call this unique place home.”
Porchlight Books staff pick.
LitHub: one of 75 Nonfiction Books You Should Read This Summer. “Stephen Kurczy immerses himself in this unique setting, tracing the history of a town unlike any other in the US and its present-day relationship to digital technology.”
BookPage starred review: The Quiet Zone is a “fascinating, deeply reported and slightly eerie look at an unusual corner of America… Kurczy becomes embedded in the community, and with compassion and a journalist’s eye he delivers a compelling portrait of a town where people struggle with the same issues as the rest of America, just a little more quietly.”
Publishers Weekly: “Kurczy succeeds in unlocking many secrets of this insular community. Readers will enjoy the peek behind the curtain.”
Kirkus: “Captivating… a multilayered illustration of a unique community where things aren’t always what they seem.”
E&T magazine (UK): “A remarkable work of investigative journalism and may make some people ponder the question if a less connected life is more desirable, re-examining the role technology plays in our lives.”
Undark: “The Quiet Zone, he finds, is actually pretty loud, and plagued by problems similar to those in the outside world. And so Kurczy shifts his aim, attempting instead to understand why such an unusual set of residents — astronomers, white supremacists, dubious medical practitioners, people who say they’re allergic to radio waves, cultists, and murderers — arrived here. He shares that journey in visual prose peppered with frank dialogue and empathic descriptions of the four months he spent exploring Pocahontas County over a period of three years.” Oct. 1, 2021.
West Virginia Independent Observer: “The Quiet Zone is a captivating peek behind the curtain of a secluded community, all the more fascinating because of Kurczy’s strong reporting.”
Parkersburg News and Sentinel: one of the best books of 2021. “An interesting look on technology’s place in our lives and our dependence on it, but it is also of small towns and the people that live in that particular one. You could probably dredge up all kinds of crazy but interesting history in just about any small town, and this is one picked from our own state.”
Southern Review of Books: “The Quiet Zone is more than just a celebration of one of the few quiet places the world might offer those seeking refuge from a tech-driven world: It is a celebration of the unique people and fortitude that shapes an area most outsiders would overlook due to its extreme isolation. …with delicate attentive prose, Kurczy successfully places the community’s varying, diverse pieces into a stunning mosaic that leaves readers wanting to visit, and maybe, even to live.” Aug. 22, 2022.
See more reviews on Goodreads.
EXCERPTS
Excerpted in Slate. September 13, 2021.
Excerpted in The Daily Beast. August 22, 2021.
Excerpted in Engadget. August 14, 2021.
Excerpted in LitHub and CrimeReads. August 4, 2021.
Excerpted in Wired. August 3, 2021.
MEDIA INTERVIEWS & EVENTS
Featured in Daily Mail: “Americans are ditching smartphones for ‘dumb’ devices that only call and text to avoid ‘zombie mode’.” June 30, 2024.
Featured in Daily Mail: “Secrets of little-known US town dubbed ‘The Quiet Zone’ where cellphones, Wi-Fi and microwaves are ILLEGAL… and its connection to alleged Government spy hub.” June 8, 2024.
Interviewed on Really, No Really? with hosts Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden. May 16, 2023. Full interview (YouTube). Clip (TikTok).
Featured on Atlas Obscura Podcast. September 21, 2022.
Featured on AMSEcast from the American Museum of Science and Energy. April 11, 2022.
Interviewed on West Virginia’s NBC-affiliate WVVA television for feature about the National Security Agency’s listening station in Sugar Grove, WV. Dec. 13, 2021.
Virtual book talk with the Falmouth Historical Society of Cape Cod on Dec. 7, 2021.
Reviewed in The Day newspaper of Connecticut. “Bozrah native Stephen Kurczy reflects on making space for ‘quiet time’.” Nov. 17, 2021.
In-person talk at Savoy Bookshop in Westerly, Rhode Island. Nov. 9, 2021.
Interviewed on KPCW/NPR Cool Science Radio podcast. Oct. 21, 2021.
In conversation with the Fourth Universalist Society. Oct. 19, 2021.
Interviewed on Arts Express with Jack Shalom. Oct. 12, 2021.
Interviewed on “Now, Appalachia” with Eliot Parker. Oct. 4, 2021.
Interviewed on “Talk Cocktail” with Jeff Schechtman. Sept. 30, 2021.
Interviewed on School for Startups Radio with Jim Beach. Sept. 24, 2021.
Interviewed on The Mark Reardon Show, 97.1 FM Talk St. Louis. Sept. 24, 2021.
Interviewed on Chocolate Church podcast with Helen Zuman. Part 1. Part 2. Sept. 19 and Oct. 3, 2021.
Q&A with IFL Science (UK). September 16, 2021.
Interviewed on The Fourth U Dimension, a podcast of The Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York. September 15, 2021.
Feature in The Big Issue (UK). (Web link.) September 13, 2021.
Interviewed on KCMJ’s Voices and Views with Judith McKay. September 12, 2021.
Reviewed in Business Insider. September 11, 2021.
Interviewed on Constant Wonder from BYU Radio. September 9, 2021
Interviewed on Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair. September 8, 2021.
In-person event at Wordplay book store in Wardensville, West Virginia. Sept. 4, 2021.
In-person event at First Friday in Marlinton, West Virginia. Sept. 3, 2021.
Live interview on WGN TV Chicago. August 31, 2021.
Interviewed on The Curiosity Hour podcast. August 26, 2021.
Interviewed on WGTD Wisconsin’s The Morning Show with Greg Berg. August 24, 2021.
Interviewed on WHMH Minneapolis-St. Cloud with Johnny Rock Lassman. August 19, 2021.
Interviewed on iHeartRadio & WRFX Charlotte & National with Arroe Collins. August 19, 2021.
Interviewed on KNEN Norfolk’s Mookie in the Morning. August 19, 2021.
Interviewed on KMED KCMD Medford, Oregon’s Bill Meyer Show. August 19, 2021.
Interviewed on WLAD NYC with Bart Busterna. August 19, 2021.
Interviewed on WRNO The News and Talk of New Orleans. August 19, 2021.
Interviewed on KQTZ Altus, Oklahoma’s The Cameron Dole Experience. August 19, 2021.
Interviewed on KZRR Albuquerque’s The Morning Show with Swami, Skyler and Mahoney. August 19, 2021.
Interviewed on WDUN Atlanta’s Mornings on Maine Street. August 19, 2021.
Interviewed on WRTA’s The 11th Hour with Doug Herendeen. August 19, 2021.
Q&A with the Moorefield Examiner in West Virginia. August 18, 2021.
Interviewed on WXMX-WKIM-FM Memphis Morning News. August 18, 2021.
Interviewed on WSVA Harrisonburg’s Early Morning talk show. August 12, 2021.
Interviewed on WKNY Radio Kingston’s Warren in the Morning. August 11, 2021.
Interviewed on the Alain Guillot podcast. August 10, 2021.
Interviewed on CBC Radio program Day 6. “West Virginia’s ‘Quiet Zone’ has no cell service — but don’t expect to fully disconnect, says author.” August 6, 2021.
Virtual book launch with Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia, hosted by award-winning author and Columbia Journalism School Professor Samuel G. Freedman. August 3, 2021.
Q&A with the book blogger Deborah Kalb. August 3, 2021.
Interviewed on Tom Roten Morning Show, WVHU-Huntington. August 3, 2021.
Interviewed on The Public Eye with Al Vuona on WICN radio. August 2, 2021.
Interviewed on podcast Book Talk with Kory French. July 29, 2021.
Featured in The New York Post. July 24, 2021.
