Zimbabwean journalist and travel writer Douglas Rogers wakes up in his fashionable New York neighborhood to discover that, at the age of thirty-five, his life has become a routine of latte orders, real estate conversations, and late nights in cocktail bars. Meanwhile, back in Zimbabwe, his parents are caught in the crossfire of a violent land war, and going to ever-greater extremes just to stay alive. Returning to the family farm and backpacker lodge to help, the author discovers that marijuana is growing instead of maize; prostitutes, diamond dealers, and refugee white farmers prop up the lodge bar; and war veterans and youth militia loyal to Mugabe hover outside the gates. Having left Africa in search of adventure and excitement a decade earlier, the author discovers that the great story he had traveled the world looking for was happening in his parents' backyard. And in going home he discovers that there is a lot more to his country, himself, and his parents, than he had ever imagined. The Last Resort is an inspiring coming-of-age tale about home, love, hope, responsibility and redemption. An edgy rollercoaster adventure, it is also a deeply moving story about how to survive a corrupt Third World dictatorship with a little innovation, humor, bribery and brothel management.

'Rogers is an astute and intelligent writer, wickedly funny at times. He manages to capture the details of life in contemporary Zimbabwe so neatly that his observations become almost a form of wit, but at the chillingly unfunny centre of the book lies the tragedy-- of President Robert Mugabe's brutal and repressive rule.' - The Witness 'Rogers has done something extraordinary with this book.' - Cape Argus 'At first I groaned, oh no, not another memoir by a honky from Umtali, and then I read all night and loved it.' - Rian Malan, author of My Traitor's Hear t 'A gorgeous, open-hearted book. Rogers manages to do the vital work of taking race out of Zimbabwe's story and putting the heart and humanity back into it. A must read for anyone who really wants to understand the extraordinary decency of ordinary Zimbabweans.' - Alexandra Fuller, author of Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight 'Born in Zimbabwe, New York-based travel writer Rogers moves between two worlds with wit and grace... Angst, humor, beauty and terror mingle freely in his narrative... This rousing memoir should win over anyone with a taste for exotic can't-go-home-again stories.' (Sept.) - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (Starred Review) '...From dollars and diamonds to pot and prostitution, Rogers shows what survival looks like when your government loses its collective mind. Brilliantly funny and wry.' - Colleen Mondor (Aug) - BOOKLIST 'This vibrant, tragic and surprisingly funny book is the best account yet of ordinary life - for blacks and whites - under Mugabe's dictatorship.' - The New York Times 'Rogers's recently published book, is a nuanced, funny, and heartbreaking story of one community's experience of survival in Mugabe's Zimbabwe.' - The New Yorker 'Zimbabwe in vertiginous decline is the backdrop for Douglas Rogers's corrosively funny The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe (Harmony), in which Rogers's parents, among the country's last remaining white farmers, attract everyone from prostitutes and diamond dealers to their backpacker lodge.' - The Season's Best Memoirs, Vogue 'This book is a must read. (I have now read it twice!)' - The Huffington Post

Douglas Rogers is an award-winning journalist and travel writer. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, the London Times, Travel & Leisure magazine and Conde Nast Traveler. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, and educated at Prince Edward School and Rhodes University, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.