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Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

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Author : Anderson Cooper
Binding : Paperback
EAN : 9780061451515
ISBN : 0061136689
Label : Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer : Harper Paperbacks
Number of pages : 240
Publication date : 2007-05-01
Publisher : Harper Paperbacks
Release date : 2007-05-08
Title : Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Studio : Harper Paperbacks

Editorial reviews

Product Description

Few people have witnessed more scenes of chaos and conflict around the world than Anderson Cooper, whose groundbreaking coverage on CNN has changed the way we watch the news. In this gripping, candid, and remarkably powerful memoir, he offers an unstinting, up-close view of the most harrowing crises of our time, and the profound impact they have had on his life.

After growing up on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Cooper felt a magnetic pull toward the unknown, an attraction to the far corners of the earth. If he could keep moving, and keep exploring, he felt he could stay one step ahead of his past, including the fame surrounding his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, and the tragic early deaths of his father and older brother. As a reporter, the frenetic pace of filing dispatches from war-torn countries, and the danger that came with it, helped him avoid having to look too closely at the pain and loss that was right in front of him.

But recently, during the course of one extraordinary, tumultuous year, it became impossible for him to continue to separate his work from his life, his family's troubled history from the suffering people he met all over the world. From the tsunami in Sri Lanka to the war in Iraq to the starvation in Niger and ultimately to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Mississippi, Cooper gives us a firsthand glimpse of the devastation that takes place, both physically and emotionally, when the normal order of things is violently ruptured on such a massive scale. Cooper had been in his share of life-threatening situations before -- ducking fire on the streets of war-torn Sarejevo, traveling on his own to famine-stricken Somalia, witnessing firsthand the genocide in Rwanda -- but he had never seen human misery quite like this. Writing with vivid memories of his childhood and early career as a roving correspondent, Cooper reveals for the first time how deeply affected he has been by the wars, disasters, and tragedies he has witnessed, and why he continues to be drawn to some of the most perilous places on earth.

Striking, heartfelt, and utterly engrossing, Dispatches from the Edge is an unforgettable memoir that takes us behind the scenes of the cataclysmic events of our age and allows us to see them through the eyes of one of America's most trusted, fearless, and pioneering reporters.

Amazon.com Review
In 2005, two tragedies--the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina--turned CNN reporter Anderson Cooper into a media celebrity. Dispatches from the Edge, Cooper's memoir of "war, disasters and survival," is a brief but powerful chronicle of Cooper's ascent to stardom and his struggle with his own tragedies and demons. Cooper was 10 years old when his father, Wyatt Cooper, died during heart bypass surgery. He was 20 when his beloved older brother, Carter, committed suicide by jumping off his mother's penthouse balcony (his mother, by the way, being Gloria Vanderbilt). The losses profoundly affected Cooper, who fled home after college to work as a freelance journalist for Channel One, the classroom news service. Covering tragedies in far-flung places like Burma, Vietnam, and Somalia, Cooper quickly learned that "as a journalist, no matter ... how respectful you are, part of your brain remains focused on how to capture the horror you see, how to package it, present it to others." Cooper's description of these horrors, from war-ravaged Baghdad to famine-wracked Niger, is poignant but surprisingly unsentimental. In Niger, Cooper writes, he is chagrined, then resigned, when he catches himself looking for the "worst cases" to commit to film. "They die, I live. It's the way of the world," he writes. In the final section of Dispatches, Cooper describes covering Hurricane Katrina, the story that made him famous. The transcript of his showdown with Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu (in which Cooper tells Landrieu people in New Orleans are "ashamed of what is happening in this country right now") is worth the price of admission on its own. Cooper's memoir leaves some questions unanswered--there's frustratingly little about his personal life, for example--but remains a vivid, modest self-portrait by a man who is proving himself to be an admirable, courageous leader in a medium that could use more like him. --Erica C. Barnett

Customer reviews

review by: Karen date: 2008-10-14 rating:

Dispatches From the Edge
It was an eye opener into Anderson's life and amition to do what he obviously it very good at, along with the pain of losing his father and brother.

review by: date: 2008-10-13 rating:

Excellent
Anderson Cooper is one of the best journalists to come along in a long time. He has gotten me interested once again in current and world events because of his honest and compelling way of reporting and seeing things.

I thought this book was excellent and well written. I could not put it down. It pulled me in the whole time and I usually don't completely finish books in 2 days.

I think it is a must read for anyone wanting to understand our world as it is today.

review by: date: 2008-10-08 rating:

Liked AC before - respect him (more) now
I trust major newspapers more than the broadcast media, but there are trustworthy stalwarts who stand out on the tube. Anderson Cooper is one such person.

I "only" knew him to be a reporter with integrity, and who was unafraid to challenge the blatantly self-serving blather days after Katrina hit, drawing upon the observations of his own eyes, and sympathetic to the plight and indignities of the NOLA residents.

Andersen shared enough of his family background, both privilege and tragedy, to provide another element of respect. This is a man who could easily have coasted on family fortune, hobnobbed in the Hamptons, and lived a leisurely, carefree life. He committed himself to a career, and was compelled to go to the sorriest (and riskiest!) places and situations on Earth. The memoir itself is an easy read. It's informative on events he witnessed. AC shares enough of his background to provide perspective, but it is fact and background only - no rosy glasses, no salacious tidbits. Enough.

If you think this guy is likeable, read this book. By the time you finish, you'll respect him.

review by: nay504 date: 2008-07-17 rating:

Such an honest account!
This book is fantastic! I purchased it and read the entire book within 72 hours. His descriptions of the accounts are breathtaking. The section that touched me most was about Katrina and the Aftermath. I lived in New Orleans as a volunteer relief worker for 1 year, November '06 - October '07. It was a life changing experience for me. The experiences I had begin 14 months after the storm. To read Anderson's accounts, just hours and days following the storm, it was unbelieveable. To read his accounts from the view of someone who was choosing to be there, it's amazing. I recommend this book to everyone.

review by: MRM date: 2008-06-06 rating:

Dispatches from the Edge
I loved this book. He is a wonderful journalist. I recommend this book to anyone that loves world news and travel all in one.

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