Quiet Zone

Stephen Kurczy is an award-winning  journalist whose work has appeared in  The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Christian Science Monitor, among other outlets. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he was a 2016-2017 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economics Journalism. Kurczy has lived without a cell phone for over a decade.

"What a fascinating book! This corner of America is unique for its electromagnetic silence—but once Stephen Kurczy starts looking he finds that it's unique in other ways too. The Quiet Zone will live on in your memory."  — Bill McKibben, New York Times bestselling author of The End of Nature"A vividly written book that captures an unusual place with a story-teller's touch, perfectly timed to this moment of confronting our complicated relationships to technology." — ELIZABETH CATTE, author of What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia"A quest for our most precious substance—peace and quiet—leaps with exuberant aplomb in to the murk of American kookery—electrosensitives, Nazis, unsolved murders—and reveals that simplicity is far more complicated, far more weird and wonderous, than the self-proclaimed #simplelife." — MARK SUNDEEN, author of The Man Who Quit Money and The Unsettlers"An engaging and sympathetic study of the myriad people who call this unique place home." — Booklist"An enthralling story." — The Parkersburg News and Sentinel (West Virginia)"Colorful. ... Kurczy succeeds in unlocking many secrets of this insular community." — Publishers Weekly"Gripping." — Daily Mail (UK)"A captivating read. ... A remarkable work of deep reporting." — Engineering & Technology Magazine (UK)“[Readers] needing a reminder of the simple pleasure of reconnecting with real people in real life will enjoy the journey.” — Nir Eyal, New York Times Book Review"Readers discover a corner of America relatively untouched by technology's influence. ... 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. ... Gives voice to many memorable people. ... One of the many beauties of Kurczy’s book is the respect and admiration the author gives the people of Pocahontas County." — Southern Review of Books“Captivating. … A multilayered illustration of a unique community where things aren’t always what they seem.” — Kirkus Reviews"[A] fascinating, deeply reported and slightly eerie look at an unusual corner of America. ... With compassion and a journalist's eye [Kurczy] delivers a compelling portrait." — BookPage (Starred Review)"Kurczy's deep reporting uncovers... strange things in these hills. ... What makes this book formidable is Kurczy's relentless investigating." — USA Today“Cleareyed and compassionate. … Surprising and deeply enlightening” — Shawangunk Journal"An expressionistic new work of nonfiction. Part folk history, part gonzo travelogue, The Quiet Zone colorfully annotates an elaborate contradiction: a last bastion of the disconnected world. ... 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. ... A time capsule of a not-so-distant past, of an approach to life that is rapidly slipping from collective memory." — The Nation