Dispatches From the Edge : A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

Amazon.com ReviewIn 2005, two tragedies--the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina--turned CNN reporter Anderson Cooper into a media celebrity. Dispatches from the Edge, Cooper's memoir of "war, disasters and survival," is a brief but powerful chronicle of Cooper's ascent to stardom and his struggle with his own tragedies and demons. Cooper was 10 years old when his father, Wyatt Cooper, died during heart bypass surgery. He was 20 when his beloved older brother, Carter, committed suicide by jumping off his mother's penthouse balcony (his mother, by the way, being Gloria Vanderbilt). The losses profoundly affected Cooper, who fled home after college to work as a freelance journalist for Channel One, the classroom news service. Covering tragedies in far-flung places like Burma, Vietnam, and Somalia, Cooper quickly learned that "as a journalist, no matter ... how respectful you are, part of your brain remains focused on how to capture the horror you see, how to package it, present it to others." Cooper's description of these horrors, from war-ravaged Baghdad to famine-wracked Niger, is poignant but surprisingly unsentimental. In Niger, Cooper writes, he is chagrined, then resigned, when he catches himself looking for the "worst cases" to commit to film. "They die, I live. It's the way of the world," he writes. In the final section of Dispatches, Cooper describes covering Hurricane Katrina, the story that made him famous. The transcript of his showdown with Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu (in which Cooper tells Landrieu people in New Orleans are "ashamed of what is happening in this country right now") is worth the price of admission on its own. Cooper's memoir leaves some questions unanswered--there's frustratingly little about his personal life, for example--but remains a vivid, modest self-portrait by a man who is proving himself to be an admirable, courageous leader in a medium that could use more like him. --\_Erica C. Barnett\_From Publishers WeeklyHarperCollins touts the handsome, prematurely gray host of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360°as the "prototype for a twenty-first century newsman." Sadly, that statement is all too true. This brief, self-involved narrative reaffirms a troubling cultural shift in news coverage: journalists used to cover the story; now, more than ever, they are the story. Cooper is an intrepid reporter: he's traveled to tsunami-ravaged Asia, famine-plagued Niger, war-torn Somalia and Iraq, and New Orleans post-Katrina. Here, however, the plights of the people and places he visits take a backseat to the fact that Cooper is, well, there. The Yale-educated son of heiress and designer Gloria Vanderbilt weaves personal tragedies (at 10, he lost his father to heart disease and later his older brother to suicide) awkwardly into far graver stories of suffering he's observing. Even when he plies the reader with his own unease ("the more sadness I saw, the more success I had") and obliquely decries TV news's demand for images of extreme misery ("merely sick won't warrant more than a cut-away shot"), he seems to place himself in front of his subjects. Cooper is an intelligent, passionate man and he may be a terrific journalist. But this book leaves one feeling he's little more than a television personality. (June) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. 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few People Have Witnessed More Scenes Of Chaos And Conflict Around The World Than Anderson Cooper, Whose Groundbreaking Coverage On Cnn Has Changed The Way We Watch The News. In This Gripping, Candid, And Remarkably Powerful Memoir, He Offers An Unstinting, Up-close View Of The Most Harrowing Crises Of Our Time, And The Profound Impact They Have Had On His Life.

After Growing Up On Manhattan's Upper East Side, Cooper Felt A Magnetic Pull Toward The Unknown, An Attraction To The Far Corners Of The Earth. If He Could Keep Moving, And Keep Exploring, He Felt He Could Stay One Step Ahead Of His Past, Including The Fame Surrounding His Mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, And The Tragic Early Deaths Of His Father And Older Brother. As A Reporter, The Frenetic Pace Of Filing Dispatches From War-torn Countries, And The Danger That Came With It, Helped Him Avoid Having To Look Too Closely At The Pain And Loss That Was Right In Front Of Him.

But Recently, During The Course Of One Extraordinary, Tumultuous Year, It Became Impossible For Him To Continue To Separate His Work From His Life, His Family's Troubled History From The Suffering People He Met All Over The World. From The Tsunami In Sri Lanka To The War In Iraq To The Starvation In Niger And Ultimately To Hurricane Katrina In New Orleans And Mississippi, Cooper Gives Us A Firsthand Glimpse Of The Devastation That Takes Place, Both Physically And Emotionally, When The Normal Order Of Things Is Violently Ruptured On Such A Massive Scale. Cooper Had Been In His Share Of Life-threatening Situations Before -- Ducking Fire On The Streets Of War-torn Sarejevo, Traveling On His Own To Famine-stricken Somalia, Witnessing Firsthand The Genocide In Rwanda -- But He Had Never Seen Human Misery Quite Like This. Writing With Vivid Memories Of His Childhood And Early Career As A Roving Correspondent, Cooper Reveals For The First Time How Deeply Affected He Has Been By The Wars, Disasters, And Tragedies He Has Witnessed, And Why He Continues To Be Drawn To Some Of The Most Perilous Places On Earth.

Striking, Heartfelt, And Utterly Engrossing, dispatches From The Edge Is An Unforgettable Memoir That Takes Us Behind The Scenes Of The Cataclysmic Events Of Our Age And Allows Us To See Them Through The Eyes Of One Of America's Most Trusted, Fearless, And Pioneering Reporters.

usa Today

powerful. . . . Packs A Visceral Punch. . . . Cooper Opens A Tantalizing Window Into His Own Soul.

One of America's leading reporters shares a deeply personal, extraordinarily powerful look at the most volatile crises he has witnessed around the world.A #1 New York Times BestsellerAnderson Cooper's groundbreaking coverage on CNN has changed the way we watch the news. Few people have witnessed more scenes of chaos and conflict around the world. In this gripping, candid, and remarkably powerful memoir, he offers an unstinting, up-close view of the most harrowing crises of our time, and the profound impact they have had on his life—from the tsunami in Sri Lanka to the war in Iraq, from the starvation in Niger to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Mississippi.Striking, heartfelt, and utterly engrossing, Dispatches from the Edge is an unforgettable story from one of America's most trusted, fearless, and pioneering reporters.Praise for Dispatches from the Edge“A smart, soulful page-turner.... Cooper is a storyteller with plenty of heart.” —People“From the shores of Sri Lanka to the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, Cooper weaves his experiences at CNN into a moving memoir.” —Newsweek“His vignettes from the world's horrscapes rise above the swagger of many journalistic memoirs because Cooper writes with competence as well as feeling.” —Washington Post Book World“Anderson Cooper gets New Orleans.... This is an emotional, personal reckoning with what he's seen.” —New Orleans Times-Picayune From one of America’s leading reporters comes a deeply personal, extraordinarily powerful look at the most volatile crises he has witnessed around the world, from New Orleans to Baghdad and beyond. Dispatches from the Edge of the World is a book that gives us a rare up-close glimpse of what happens when the normal order of things is suddenly turned upside down, whether it’s a natural disaster, a civil war, or a heated political battle. Over the last year, few people have witnessed more scenes of chaos and conflict than Anderson Cooper, whose groundbreaking coverage on CNN has become the touchstone of twenty-first century journalism. This book explores in a very personal way the most important - and most dangerous - crises of our time, and the surprising impact they have had on his life. From the devastating tsunami in South Asia to the suffering Niger, and ultimately Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Cooper shares his own experiences of traversing the globe, covering the world’s most astonishing stories. As a television journalist, he has the gift of speaking with an emotional directness that cuts through the barriers of the medium. In his first book, that passion communicates itself through a rich fabric of memoir and reportage, reflection and first-person narrative. Unflinching and utterly engrossing, this is the story of an extraordinary year in a reporter’s life. Cooper does a great job giving us insight into the lives of journalists. To bring the stories that we see on the news, someone has to experience the horrors of the reality of the story and bring it to us in a clean and filtered manner. The journalists themselves though actually have to sift through the horrors on a regular basis. I guess I always imagined his life to be somewhat glamorous because of who he is and where he came from but this book just shows how television has a way of only portraying the glamour and none of the realities associated with the people we sit down to watch every evening. His life is far from glamorous, in fact, it's a miracle he hasn't gone over the edge yet... I highly recommend this book for it's insightful portrayal of the atrocities that go on in the world and Coopers honest portrayal of his life and feelings. The only thing I didn't love was how the book jumped back and forth in time and location, found it a bit disorienting to keep track of people and story lines. From The Tsunami In Sri Lanka To The War In Iraq To The Starvation In Niger And Ultimately To Hurricane Katrina In New Orleans And Mississippi, Cooper Gives Us A Firsthand Glimpse Of The Devastation That Takes Place, Both Physically And Emotionally, When The Normal Order Of Things Is Violently Ruptured On A Massive Scale. Cooper Had Been In His Share Of Life-threatening Situations Before, But He Had Never Seen Human Misery Quite Like This. Writing With Vivid Memories Of His Childhood And Early Career As A Roving Correspondent, Cooper Reveals For The First Time How Deeply Affected He Has Been By The Wars, Disasters, And Tragedies He Has Witnessed, And Why He Continues To Be Drawn To Some Of The Most Perilous Places On Earth.--from Publisher Description. Tsunami -- Iraq -- Niger -- Katrina. Anderson Cooper. Gives us a glimpse of what happens when the normal order of things is suddenly turned upside down, whether it's a natural disaster, a civil war, or a heated political battle. This book explores various dangerous crises, and the impact they have had on the author's life. It discusses the devastating tsunami in South Asia and the suffering Niger. Title from ebook title screen (viewed on May 30, 2006).