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Monday, May 2, 2016

And Then All Hell Broke Loose


Richard Engel  is the chief foreign correspondent for NBC and has  spent much of his 20-year award-winning career  in war zones in the Middle East. As an enterprising freelance reporter,  he initially  got himself into Iraq as a “human shield” for a peace organization in early 2003, and struck a deal with ABC News; he would become the last American television reporter left in Baghdad.

In 2005, his Baghdad hotel was badly rocked by a truck bomb across the street, and as the entire region exploded into war and revolution, he would have other close calls — including being kidnapped in Syria in 2012. To characterize him ad an intrepid reporter would be more than an understatement.

Mr. Engel’s harrowing adventures make for gripping reading in his new book, “And Then All Hell Broke Loose,”.    He deftly uses them as a portal to look at how the Middle East has changed since he arrived in the region as a young reporter back in 1996. The result is a book that gives readers a brisk but wide-angled understanding of the calamities that have unfurled there over the last two decades — most notably, the still unspooling consequences of the careless and botched invasion by the United States invasion of Iraq, and the sad unfolding  of revolutions in Egypt, Libya and Syria
Engel has interviewed most of the key players in these tragedies writ large as well as having a good background in the history of the region. The book is relatively short and snappy  but one couldn’t do much better to gain good insights into the present chaos…..
 



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@Barrie Summy

15 comments:

Out on the prairie said...

What a challenge to have taken.Sounds interesting to read.

Sally Wessely said...

I'd like to read this. I'm sure his insight is priceless.

Arkansas Patti said...

I am impressed that he survived 20 years in the middle east with enough brain cells left to write a book. That place could frustrate the most patient. Sounds like an interesting read about a place few of us can understand.

Lin said...

Oooooh, this sounds like a good read. And informative too! I would like to hear him speak on his adventures.

Anvilcloud said...

Sounds like and excellent and worthwhile read.

Red said...

That's a tough area to work in for 20 yEARS. There's much more to happen there before it's all over.

Valerie said...

This should be classed as a must-read book. How better to learn what goes on than through the words of someone who experiences it first hand.

Vicki said...

Looks like an interesting read. I am finishing Meacham's biography on Jefferson "The Art of Power" and my husband finished Brian Kilmeade's "Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates" that I gave him for his birthday and he very much enjoyed. You always give good book reviews and I like your recommendations.

Sarah Laurence said...

What an interesting author bio! He does sound like the right person to write this kind of book.

Barrie said...

He is much braver than I! This sounds like a fascinating read. You are surely nudging me into nonfiction books. ;) Thanks for reviewing!

Stacy said...

Sounds like a very compelling read. Thanks for reviewing.

Cloudbuster said...

Great review! This is just the kind of nonfiction I love to read. I'll have to check this one out.

Lyndi Lamont said...

I'm so impressed by Richard Engel. I've been watching his news reports for years, and he always seems so knowledgeable, as well as being brave and intrepid. The books sounds amazing. Thanks for the review.

Linda aka Lyndi

Carla from The River said...

Thank you for the review, you always do a great job.
Carla

Ien in the Kootenays said...

This one sounds both worth while and doable. I am both fascinated by history and lacking the patience to read the minutiae. Thanks for all ypur work.