Dirty wars and polished silver : the life and times of a war correspondent turned ambassatrix

**-I'm happy to report that adventure I found, beyond my wildest imaginings. Glamour, too. And love. But there were other things lurking--danger, death, personal loss--that I did not foresee. Most of all, there was war.-** Growing up in 1960s Detroit, Lynda Schuster felt convinced that life was happening somewhere else and she was determined to find it. And find it she did. DIRTY WARS AND POLISHED SILVER is the story of her life abroad as a foreign correspondent in war-torn countries, and as the wife of a U. S. Ambassador. It chronicles her experiences reporting on uprisings in the jungles of Mexico, dodging rocket fire in Lebanon, being held hostage in the wastelands of Angola, and grieving the loss of her first husband, __Los Angeles Times__ reporter Dial Torgrson, who was killed on assignment at the Honduran-Nicaraguan border. But even after her second marriage, when she traded in the bombs and bravado of journalism for the supposedly safer life as the wife of U. S. diplomat, all the black-tie parties and personal staff and genteel grooming at -Ambassatrix School- in the world could not protect her from the violence of war. Told with great good humor, DIRTY WARS AND POLISHED SILVER is the gripping yet charming story of one woman's journey to self-discovery, and about how she ultimately found herself where she least expected to be: in essentially the same place, only wiser, saner, more resolved--and all in one piece. "From a former Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent, an exuberant memoir of life, love, and transformation on the frontlines of conflicts around the world Growing up in 1970s Detroit, Lynda Schuster felt certain life was happening elsewhere. And as soon as she graduated from high school, she set out to find it. Dirty Wars and Polished Silver is Schuster's story of her life abroad as a foreign correspondent in war-torn countries, and, later, as the wife of a U.S. Ambassador. It chronicles her time working on a kibbutz in Israel, reporting on uprisings in Central America and a financial crisis in Mexico, dodging rocket fire in Lebanon, and grieving the loss of her first husband, a fellow reporter, who was killed only ten months after their wedding. But even after her second marriage, to a U.S. diplomat, all the black-tie parties and personal staff and genteel "Ambassatrix School" grooming in the world could not protect her from the violence of war. Equal parts gripping and charming, Dirty Wars and Polished Silver is a story about one woman's quest for self-discovery--only to find herself, unexpectedly, more or less back where she started: wiser, saner, more resolved. And with all her limbs intact"-- Provided by publisher