by Greg Dobbs ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 2009
A somewhat flawed, yet largely enthralling, story about life on the front lines of journalism.
Veteran broadcast journalist Dobbs tells the behind-the-scenes story of his profession in some of the most dangerous places in the world.
The author tells readers in his introduction about the nature of his book–these are “war stories,” he says, or if they prefer, “bar stories” or even “letters home from the field.” Dobbs paints a clear picture of how a news team operates in these places, sometimes courageously, sometimes stupidly, sometimes both. However, at times, when Dobbs is a bit too in love with his jokes and marks a real knee-slapper with an exclamation point, it might seem like this is more the made-up autobiography of a character, like Tom Grunick, William Hurt’s character from Broadcast News. There are times when Dobbs overexplains simple ideas, taking an entire paragraph to describe the fairly familiar geography of England and Ireland. He makes no effort to hide the adrenaline-junkie instinct that may seem stereotypical of journalists covering dangerous situations–that these professionals sometimes jump in where bullets are flying not necessarily because it’s a story that needs telling, but simply because it’s exciting. At other times, Dobbs seems nothing less than an expert in his field, combining historical knowledge with practical experience about surviving in some of the world’s worst places. Taken as a whole, the faults and triumphs paint an honest portrait of someone trying to adjust to the rigors of his profession just like anyone else, except those rigors involve navigating battle-torn streets in Europe and the Middle East, interviewing gun-runners and trying to convince the girlfriend of a convicted killer to give you an on-camera exclusive.
A somewhat flawed, yet largely enthralling, story about life on the front lines of journalism.Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4401-5276-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Greg Dobbs
by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
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by Elie Wiesel ; edited by Alan Rosen
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by Elie Wiesel ; illustrated by Mark Podwal
BOOK REVIEW
by Elie Wiesel ; translated by Marion Wiesel
by Chris Gardner with Quincy Troupe ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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