The great satirist Thomas Brussig slips into the role of a referee and reflects on life. How does it feel to get booed by 80,000 people? How does it feel to be surrounded by liars, dodgers and cheaters who look innocent in one second and suffer in the next, just as tactics require it in the 90 minutes of a game? How does it feel to catch attention by making mistakes only (for only wrong decisions spur discussions)? The tragedy of the impartial is that he has to stay neutral in a world where passion is contagious, and remain an amateur among highly paid professionals. And why exactly are referees expected to be just, when nobody believes in justice anyway? This book by Thomas Brussig is the first of a new series by Residenz Verlag: A Litany.

"I am an explorer without mission, withous specialty and without destination." Two month, which Blixa Bargeld predominantly spends in a bus - from Lisbon to Moscow, Oslo to Naples, crisscrossing Europe. Free day on a tour means a day for travelling. And what does Blixa Bargeld do? He visits a museum, buys shoes and wines and dines alone (mostly), but not only this ... A tournee, a litany and a declaration of love to Europe.