Radio, television & foreign media:
I have been interviewed about ”All inclusive” on national public radio in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, and in Danish newspapers.
Anders Sundelin, Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter:
“He is equipped with the kind of courage that separates interesting writers from less interesting ones. He writes with the authority given by experience. He writes for the reader, not the critic.”
Andreas Johansson Heinö, Swedish daily newspaper Sydsvenskan:
”It is a tale as black as night about children exposed to crime, children who become criminals, about genital mutilation and honour-related violence, about a school which offers neither knowledge nor norms, about social services without muscles, about an adult world with no time to care and politicians who destroy parks and playgrounds. ’City-planned child abuse’ is Åberg’s term for this condensation of urban neighbourhoods…
”’If society does not draw any lines’, Åberg writes, ‘none will be left.’ He gives uncountable examples of the inability of grown-ups to uphold the line between right and wrong and offers an unerring description of a political lingo deficient in oxygen, where reality is dissolved into ‘stories’ and repulsive events are commented on with understatements such as ‘unacceptable’.
The power in Åberg’s social criticism derives from his apparent sense of being an outsider. He displays the necessary distance to be able to state the obvious: that it is absurd to ever regard serious crimes against children as normal.”
Eli Göndör, Swedish online magazine Smedjan:
”The book is in many respects brilliant, not least because of its honesty…
The wording is often witty and funny. In an otherwise rather heavy and dark depiction of reality, Åberg’s humour is often liberating…
Åberg is an experienced journalist with an excellent faculty for covering his conversations in ways that make them easy for readers to follow. A recurring theme is that the systems created to protect children have failed. The reason seems to be a combination of insecurity in the face of the unknown, fear of being called a racist, inadequate resources and other circumstances that have allowed problems to grow instead of solving them…
Åberg’s book is filled with important, on-the-spot observations. He has an outstanding ability to find precisely those particulars that can explain the failed integration processes and expose the shortcomings partly responsible for the problems described in the book.”
Mikael Jalving, Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten:
’”All inclusive’ is the title of the latest well-written book by Swedish author Lars Åberg about his native land, in the process of transforming itself into a globalized Absurdistan… If it wasn’t so tragic, it might almost be poetic.”
Mats Edman, former editor-in-chief at the Swedish Veckans Affärer and Dagens Samhälle magazines:
”Lars Åberg is a unique journalist. He deserves the foremost Swedish Journalism Award in 2020 for his nuanced and more than 20-year long coverage of the greatest social change in Sweden since the emigration to America. Courage, integrity, critical thinking, enlightened humanism – that’s how I view Lars Åberg’s work. He is unique, without real competition, and deserving of major recognition.”
Thomas Nydahl, Swedish author:
”This is a book that invites the reader into a highly remarkable society, the Swedish, where everything seems to be for free and tied to allowances and subsidies, and yet no demands or expectations are expressed. In the third book in his trilogy, Åberg focuses on children and young people living in this New kingdom, with everything that comes with it…
I would argue that with its clear and lucid line of argument Åberg’s new book covers most of the topics we need to discuss. From the perspectives of children, and thus also from those of grown-ups…
Must I add that this is one of the absolutely most important books of the year? Where the media tells lies or covers events in cotton candy it speaks the truth. Few authors can write social criticism the way Lars Åberg does. His trilogy is an important contribution to a view of ongoing events that is not buried underneath empty political phrases. Åberg is concrete where others are woolly. He is sharp where others are uneasy.”
Niklas Törnlund, Swedish poet and author:
”His contribution to the debate, ’All inclusive’, carries a glowing passion for the children – those who longer than the rest of us will have to live with the consequences of the mess we are creating. The account is rich in facts and the writer takes us with him on a haunting journey through Sweden.”
Per Brinkemo, Swedish author:
”Lars Åberg should have subscribed to the most important Swedish journalism awards over the past few years, and the years before that. A scoop is one thing, but mapping the territory, shaping the grand design, describing and analyzing what is vague to most of us at first, but which, at last, becomes apparent to more and more, is much bigger and much more important than all sorts of ephemeral journalism. If not in this life, then on the other side Lars Åberg will receive his well-deserved reward.”
Peter Eriksson, integration officer in the Swedish town of Ystad:
”’All inclusive’ is aiming at the children. This gives the book a gravity that grabs you. The chapters ’How Sweden works’ and ’No honour left’ are incomparably good. In the book he places a heavy responsibility on adults to fix this. The children growing up now quickly adjust to something that nobody wants and which differs significantly from the conditions of our own childhood.”
Johnny Månsson, manssonskultur.se:
“Lars Åberg strikes once again with a knockout… His criticism is sharp and with his lively language the book becomes a page-turner.”