Writing War: The Best Contemporary Journalism about Warfare and Conflict from Around the World

By: Willis, Clint

Book Overview

Daily news reports rarely bring home the messy reality of modern war in any but the most superficial and cliched terms. But the current tensions around the world are increasingly drawing the attention... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560255072
• ISBN13: 9781560255079
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 364 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A strong dose of the reality of war

One of the editorial reviews of the book is that it is like the first 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan". In a sense that is true, however there are some major differences. Only a few the chapters in the book deal with actual soldiers doing armed combat in a somewhat organized fashion. Most of the chapters deal with war from another perspective. The book highlights the lengths that some reporters go to to report "the story". Most of the stories in the book are not so much about traditional armies doing battle on battlefields, but tell the story of those who live on battlefields with no defined borders. The stories told here are not for the meek. They are horror stories of the worst kind, they happened (and are still happening). Families watching family members tortured, raped and/or killed. Children being coerced into murdering others to save their own lives. Prisoners being humiliated for the shear amusement of their captors only to be slowly killed in the end. "War IS Hell", is the only thought that kept crossing my mind. The stories ar vivid and move fast, and do not leave a romanticized vision of war in your mind that many movies or books do. The stories take place all over the world and range from military atrocities to civilians in Chechnya, to genocide and the killing of 800,000 people in 4 months in Rwanda, to US soldiers dealing with the fact that they killed Iraqi civilians in the heat of battle. These stories were not written in a cushy office with survivors sitting on a couch telling there story. These were written in real time, with the reporter in the dirt, standing on bodies in some cases, living the stories and putting their own lives at risk. Some were even bold enough to seek out and interview the perpetrators of the crimes, and in some cases be witnesses to them.One may ask, why read this then? This book will not be for everyone, but for those who read it, it will be an educational tool used to remind them of the true and sometimes unseen costs of war. Also, that there are truly evil people in the world and war (violence) may be the only way to be rid of them (think Hitler). International tribunals for war crimes has not been a factor in dealing with many of these war criminals. It is also a reminder of the the sacrifices made by the soldier who is sent in the name of good, to do the deeds necessary to eradicate evil. There are many stories in here and each chapter/article is unique in its outlook, writing and ideas. This book is a must for anyone interested in history related to the military or war itself.

Just make sure you are ready for this book.

It's not Guadalcanal Diary. It makes Michael Herr's Vietnam stuff seem tame. It is not a CNN war correspondent asking guys where they are from amidst whizzing bullets and making it seem a glorious adventure. This is brutal stuff. These are stories of the wars that only get a few inches (if that) in your local paper, written by people you've never heard of. The book has selections from the civil wars of Africa, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and the Middle East. The tales, often written by the victims, or told by them to the author, are of mines, maiming, senseless massacres, genocide, rape, pillage and murder in the name of a cause. They aren't fun stories, and there are few happy endings. They are exposes, not adventures, and confessions, not bragging. So why do you want to read it? Because you have to, unless you want to pretend these things didn't happen, and won't happen again. There's nothing wrong with the writing - it probably is what the cover says - the best on this distasteful topic. The rest of the world knows so much more about this stuff than we do, shielded by two oceans. Read this book and say, 'yeah, I remember hearing something about that,' and maybe increase your awareness when you read the paper tomorrow. They aren't pleasant stories, but they are important stories that need to be told.