War Stories - Hardcover

Bowen, Jeremy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743230949 ISBN 13: 9780743230940

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2006

Synopsis

Having joined the BBC as a trainee in 1984, Jeremy Bowen first became a foreign correspondent four years later. He had witnessed violence already, both at home and abroad, but it wasn't until he covered his first war -- in El Salvador -- that he felt he had arrived. Armed with the fearlessness of youth he lived for the job, was in love with it, aware of the dangers but assuming the bullets and bombs were meant for others. In 2000, however, after eleven years in some of the world's most dangerous places, the bullets came too close for comfort, and a close friend was killed in Lebanon. This, and then the birth of his first child, began a process of reassessment that culminated in the end of the affair. Now, in his extraordinarily gripping and thought-provoking new book, he charts his progress from keen young novice whose first reaction to the sound of gunfire was to run towards it to the more circumspect veteran he is today. It will also discuss the changes that have taken place in the ways in which wars are reported over the course of his career, from the Gulf War to Bosnia, Afghanistan to Rwanda.

About this title

About the Author:

Jeremy Bowen is a senior correspondent for the BBC, and reported from Jerusalem for seven years. Until recently he was the co-presenter of the BBC's Breakfast News programme. This is his first book.

From the Inside Flap:

`This is the story of a love affair that went wrong. It isn't
over. It still has its moments and it might go on for many more years. But
it will never be what it was when it started.'

Jeremy Bowen is not talking about a woman. He was in love with a job:
addicted to reporting wars. `It sounds a little sad, and in a way it was,
though it was also compelling and passionate and fun and it never felt like
work. I have written this book because many people have asked me why
journalists risk their lives to go to war. The answer is complicated, and
different people have their own reasons. But these were mine.'

From joining the BBC as a trainee in 1984, Bowen quickly rose through the
ranks to become one of the Corporation's most recognisable faces, a
mainstay of news bulletins as he reported from the front lines of various
hot-spots around the world. From his first war in El Salvador in 1989, he
has covered wars in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Rwanda, among other places,
and worked extensively in the Balkans and the Middle East throughout the
1990s, including reporting the First Gulf War from Baghdad.

In 2000, however, everything changed. The violent death of a close
colleague and the birth of his first child made Jeremy re-assess his
hazardous occupation, and ultimately decide that he owed it to his growing
family to do something less dangerous. But the fascination remained, and in
this riveting memoir he attempts to come to terms with his own infatuation
as well as exploring the uncomfortable truth of the job - that as a war
correspondent, for you to have a good day, someone else has to have their
worst day.

Candid and compelling, War Stories charts the progress of a young novice
whose first reaction to the sound of gunfire was to run towards it to the
more circumspect veteran he is today. It is also an extraordinarily
gripping account of some of the late twentieth century's most divisive
conflicts, and a thought-provoking insight into how technology has changed
our attitude to breaking news.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0743230949
• ISBN 13: 9780743230940
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320