“Imagine George Costanza from Seinfeld being sent off to cover the Iraq War . . . Hilarious.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Chris Ayres is a small-town boy, a hypochondriac, and a neat freak with an anxiety disorder. Not exactly the picture of a war correspondent. But when his boss asks him if he would like to go to Iraq, he doesn’t have the guts to say no. After signing a one million dollar life-insurance policy, studying a tutorial on repairing severed limbs, and spending twenty thousand dollars on camping gear (only to find out that his bright yellow tent makes him a sitting duck), Ayres is embedded with a battalion of gung ho Marines who either shun him or threaten him when he files an unfavorable story. As time goes on, though, he begins to understand them (and his inexplicably enthusiastic fellow war reporters) more and more: Each night of terrifying combat brings, in the morning, something more visceral than he has ever experienced—the thrill of having won a fight for survival. War Reporting for Cowards tells, with “self-deprecating wit”, the story of Iraq in a way that is extraordinarily honest and bitterly hilarious (The New Yorker). “Heartbreakingly funny.” —Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead “Chris Ayres has invented a new genre: a rip-roaring tale of adventure and derring-don’t.” —Toby Young, author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People “Darkly entertaining.” —Los Angeles Times “Ayres’s stories of life with Marines are gripping—in part because he’s the perfect neurotic foil.” —People

In September 2004, Canadian journalist Scott Taylor was taken hostage in northern Iraq. While awaiting execution by beheading, he reflected on the events that had brought him to a torture chamber in a remote Iraqi village, from his early years as a Canadian Forces infantryman to his later career as a frontline reporter in Africa, the former Yugoslavia, and in 21 trips to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq before, during, and after the U.S.-led invasion. After his kidnapping ordeal, Taylor resumed his unembedded war reporting in Afghanistan. He recounts his adventures in this action-packed and brutally honest memoir. With searing criticism, Taylor exposes the deceit of the politicians and media cheerleaders who, at little cost to themselves, are ultimately responsible for waging the senseless wars that cause so much needless suffering for so many innocent people.

To many they were nothing more than cowards, but the 'conchies' of the First World War had the courage to stand by their principles when the nation was against them... An innovative new history of conscientious objectors during the First World War. Drawing on previously unpublished archive material, Karyn Burnham reconstructs the personal stories of several men who refused to fight, bringing the reader face-to-face with their varied, often brutal, experiences.Charles Dingle: Defying his father's wishes by objecting to military service, Charles joins the Friends Ambulance Unit and finds himself in the midst of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.Jack Foister: Jack, a young student, cannot support the war in any way. Imprisoned and shipped secretly out to France, Jack has no idea what lengths the military will go to in order to break him.James Landers: A Christian and pacifist, James faces a dilemma: if he sticks to his principles, he faces imprisonment but if he joins the Non Combatant Corps he can financially support his family. Gripping accounts reveal the traumatic and sometimes terrifying events these men went through and help readers to discover what it was really like to be a conscientious objector.As seen in the Northern Echo, Ilkley Gazette, Ripon Gazette, Wetherby News, Kent & Sussex Courier and Bradford Telegraph & Argus. Also seen in Essence and Discover Your History magazines.

I went in behind the lines and emerged as a kind of agent. I went in as a reporter and came out a kind of soldier. I sometimes wish I had never gone in at all. -Paul Morton War correspondents have long entered combat zones at great personal risk, determined to capture the conflict for those on the home front. But during World War II, Toronto Star journalist Paul Morton found himself not just reporting the war but fighting his own personal battle in a shocking turn of events that led to disastrous consequences for his career. Morton volunteered in 1944 to parachute behind Nazi lines and report on the guerrilla war being waged by Italian partisans. But after he spent two months writing a series, the British Army changed its battle strategy and ordered stories on the partisans to cease. Mortons stories were spiked, and he was disacredited as a correspondent. Morton was subsequently fired by the Toronto Star after they unfairly claimed his reporting was fabricated. Eye-opening and gripping, Inappropriate Conduct shares the dramatic true story of how Morton became the target of a ruthless campaign that shattered his journalistic integrity and his career. Journalist Don North captures Mortons experiences from the beginning, using Mortons previously unpublished memoir and archival sources to create a seamless, powerful narrative that speaks to the tenuous relationship between the truth and propaganda during war.

This timely illustrated book presents an engaging discussion about the role of the war correspondent, news gathering in a war zone, and the influence of technology on war reporting. Fully international in its approach, the book examines themes of propaganda, censorship and responsibility, and the impact of those iconic frontline despatches and photographs of the last century that have crystallised the public perception of the war zone. The book unfolds chronologically, with each chapter focusing on a particular war or group of conflicts. The narrative unfolds through the enterprising and often tragic lives and experiences of the key war correspondents of the period, from the age of print, through the impact of photojournalism to the ascendancy of TV bulletins and the rise of digital technology, which brings a startling immediacy and intimacy to the war zone. Each chapter includes several feature pages and spreads in which famous artworks and photographs are profiled alongside the most respected and well-known correspondents of the last century. Beautifully illustrated with black-and-white prints, colour reportage, and the best examples of war art, this is a fascinating, wide-ranging account of a truly remarkable group of people.

For 150 years war correspondents have shaped our understanding of the war zone. Through printed word, photograph, radio and satellite link-up, they have exposed the horrors of war and revealed the endurance of the human spirit under fire. This book not only brings together details of the most famous dispatches from the front and iconic examples of photojournalism that have passed into our collective consciousness, it is also about the war correspondents themselves. Illustrated with the best examples of war art, black-and-white prints and color reportage of the conflicts of the last century and a half, and with special features on the careers of famous journalists and photographers, this book offers a fascinating insight into the role of the war correspondent.

With an important introduction by C. Everett Koop and passionate endorsements from Senator Edward M. Kennedy and public officials from every major city in the U.S., this authoritative and timely guide calls for the diagnosis and treatment of urban violence as a public health crisis.

A provocative look at how cowardice has been understood from ancient times to the present Coward. It's a grave insult, likely to provoke anger, shame, even violence. But what exactly is cowardice? When terrorists are called cowards, does it mean the same as when the term is applied to soldiers? And what, if anything, does cowardice have to do with the rest of us? Bringing together sources from court-martial cases to literary and film classics such as Dante's Inferno, The Red Badge of Courage, and The Thin Red Line, Cowardice recounts the great harm that both cowards and the fear of seeming cowardly have done, and traces the idea of cowardice’s power to its evolutionary roots. But Chris Walsh also shows that this power has faded, most dramatically on the battlefield. Misconduct that earlier might have been punished as cowardice has more recently often been treated medically, as an adverse reaction to trauma, and Walsh explores a parallel therapeutic shift that reaches beyond war, into the realms of politics, crime, philosophy, religion, and love. Yet, as Walsh indicates, the therapeutic has not altogether triumphed—contempt for cowardice endures, and he argues that such contempt can be a good thing. Courage attracts much more of our attention, but rigorously understanding cowardice may be more morally useful, for it requires us to think critically about our duties and our fears, and it helps us to act ethically when fear and duty conflict. Richly illustrated and filled with fascinating stories and insights, Cowardice is the first sustained analysis of a neglected but profound and pervasive feature of human experience.

“On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist beautifully outlines . . . what it means to seek the truth. It gave me a new faith in the power of reporting.” —Oprah Winfrey The recipient of multiple Peabody and Murrow awards, Clarissa Ward is a world-renowned conflict reporter. In this strange age of crisis where there really is no front line, she has moved from one hot zone to the next. With multiple assignments in Syria, Gaza, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, Ward, who speaks seven languages, has been based in Baghdad, Beirut, Beijing, and Moscow. She has seen and documented the violent remaking of the world at close range. With her deep empathy, Ward finds a way to tell the hardest stories. On All Fronts is the riveting account of Ward’s singular career and of journalism in this age of extremism. Following a privileged but lonely childhood, Ward found her calling as an international war correspondent in the aftermath of 9/11. From her early days in the field, she was embedding with marines at the height of the Iraq War and reporting from the center of Israel’s war with Hezbollah. Soon she was soon on assignment all over the globe. From her multiple stints entrenched with Syrian rebels to her deep investigations into the Western extremists who are drawn to ISIS, Ward covered Bashar al-Assad’s reign of terror without fear and with courage and compassion. In 2018, Ward rose to new heights at CNN and became a mother. Suddenly, she was doing this hardest of jobs with a whole new perspective. On All Fronts is the unforgettable story of one extraordinary journalist—and of a changing world.

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