Why Europe? — A Family, A Continent, A Life Rebuilt

Why Europe? — A Family, A Continent, A Life Rebuilt is the new book by Dr. Alberto Arbex, physician and author. It is not a history of the European Union or a policy analysis — it is the personal, literary account of one family who left Brazil, passed through Harvard, and built a new life in Germany. Written by a doctor with more than 25 years of clinical experience, the book weaves together memoir and reflection on European identity, healthcare systems, and what it means to start over in another country.

Why does a family leave everything familiar behind and choose Europe? In Why Europe?, Dr. Alberto Arbex tells the story of his own family’s path — from Brazil, to a Visiting Scholar position at Harvard, to a clinic and a home near the German–Danish border.

This is the English successor to his German book Warum gerade Deutschland? — expanded, deepened, and written for readers around the world. Part memoir, part systemic reflection, Why Europe? looks honestly at what Europe promises and what it costs: the outward unity and the inner fragmentation, the recognition of foreign credentials, the comparison of healthcare systems across Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark, and above all the human experience of resilience and belonging.

It is a book about identity, family, and the quiet decision to build a life somewhere new.

About the Author

Dr. Alberto Arbex is a physician specializing in internal medicine and endocrinology, a medical educator and researcher, and a former Visiting Scholar at Harvard. He lives and practices near Flensburg, Germany. Why Europe? is his fifth book and his first written in English.