Wide-ranging, irreverent and humorous, packed with fascinating - and sometimes tragic - details on lands and people who are rarely heard from.

Princes Amongst Men is the only book to provide an overview of Gypsy music across the Balkans, documenting remarkable artistry in former Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria. It is also the only travelogue available through terrain many consider to be Europe's 'Badlands', covering ghettoes and villages, railways and motorways, weddings and funerals, festivals and dive bars.

No other writer has emulated the spirit of Jack Kerouac on the Balkan roads, in search of adventure, artistry and romance.

By Garth Cartwright