Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq

by Bill Katovsky and Timothy Carlson

Book Overview

This work presents 60 eye-opening, first person narratives that takes readers into the dust and smoke of the battlefield that was Iraq. frontline. From the network anchor calling his wife to tell her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159228549X
• ISBN13: 9781592285495
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 422 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.6" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Under Fire

How did those two co-authors get these war journalists interviewed for Embedded to open up so candidly? When I first picked up this book, I half-expected to read boilerplate journalism-school debates about ethics, objectivity, pursuing a story. That was not the case here. Not at all. Each interview left me reeling in a cold-sweat panic: So this is what it's like to be a wartime reporter. I was right there in the Bradley Fighting Vehicles with these reporters, or avoiding ambushes in a rented SUV if I was traveling as an independent reporter. Man, what action. Remember that movie about ten or fifteen years ago, "Under Fire," starring Nick Nolte as a combat photographer and Gene Hackman as a seasoned foreign news correspondent? Well, Embedded is as cinematic, as powerful in its own storytelling way--and there's dozens and dozens of these true-life stories. What a read. This IS the book of the war.

Studs Terkel would be proud

A logical idea executed brilliantly: Meld the oral history approach of "Working" to the embedded reporters and their tiny-slices-of-the-pie coverage of the Iraq War. The result is like walking in on a Baghdad reunion party attended by 60-plus of the most interesting, intelligent print and TV war correspondents, including some for the Arab press, all of them spinning yarns about dodging (and sweating) bullets on their wild 21-day spring vacations. Due to the sheer variety of perspectives, each one of them distilled down into fast-reading 3 to 10-page chunks, "Embedded" provides an overall perspective that will be tough for other Iraq war books to match. It ultimately yields a fascinating and fair look at the war. I almost can't wait for the next big act of history to occur; I'll be the first in line to pick up Katovsky and Carlson's next Turkel-like tome.

A Must-Read

For anyone who sat glued to the TV watching history being made, you cannot pass up this book. The correspondents' stories are often funny, often frightening, and always gripping. Learn more of each reporter's personal thoughts on being away from family, being trapped in fire-fights, and their respect for the soldiers and marines doing their jobs. Should be required reading for anyone interested in recent history. As the marines would say, "Outstanding."

Authenticity

As much I strongly admired Ms. Garrel's intrepid journalism under fire account in her book (the title however makes me think of some '60s ... club in San Francisco, a place also known as Baghdad by the Bay), and though there are many choice passages in her NPR written-word narrative, for my money and historical value, I much prefer "Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq," by Bill Katovsky and Timothy Carlson, which packs an emotional wallop of 60 interviews with reporters from across the globe, including a revealing and harrowing account also from embedded NPR correspondent Eric Westervelt. Grenades, RPGs, sniper fire, and dodging death punctuate these 60 personal stories behind the news stories from the battlefield. Talk about deadlines. Sorry, Ms. Garrels, Embedded works because it reminds me of the best of Studs Terkel.

I Highly Recommend This Book

This is a fascinating book. Skip the intro, which is too long and reads like a college paper, and dive right into the action. It's uncomfortable, nerve-wracking reading- these reporters' stories take you right to the front lines amid the chaos and the noise. Michael Herr's Dispatches was a great book, but it offered only one perspective. This book presents dozens from all over the globe, both men and women, Arabic press and US Army videographers. Most importantly, each person speaks from the heart. (My favorite was Evan Wright, the Rolling Stone reporter. He is a funny and insightful guy who doesn't take himself too seriously.) When I first heard the media would be "embedded", I thought oh no, that means "co-opted", stuck in the rear under a watchful military eye. This book demonstrates that that was not the case. These reporters were given, and/or took, the freedom they needed to send very accurate reports of this war, direct from the battlefield. They took great risks to do it, and for that I am grateful to them.