Monday, August 31, 2009

Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper

This is by Anderson Cooper of CNN fame. He recalls his experiences covering various disasters such as the 2005 tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and Somalia. He interweaves some, but not much, of his own personal life and the losses and grief he deals with himself. He shows his compassion and humanity through his descriptions and seems pretty honest and aware of his own reactions to what he sees and hears.

I enjoyed this book, especially the section on Hurricane Katrina. The writing was easy to read, but some of what Cooper writes about was not so easy to read. I probably wouldn't buy this book, but I recommend reading it if you can check it out from the library. Or you can borrow my copy.

What Cooper writes about Katrina:
"Here [in the United States], you grow up believing there's a safety net, that things can never completely fall apart. Katrina showed us all that's not true."

1 comment:

Sandra said...

That statement couldn't be more true. We grow up looking at the rest of the world as it goes through tragedy and think it will never happen to us.