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The Lion's Grave Dispatches from Afghanistan by Jon Lee Anderson ISBN: 0-8021-4025-4 / ISBN-13: 978-0-8021-4025-8 US $13.00 - 5 1/2 x 8 1/4, 256 pp - Sep. 2003 |
“Anderson is a war correspondent’s journalist. . . . [The Lion’s Grave] is an insightful book of dispatches that are different in focus from, but reminiscent, in their on-the-ground style, of the late Ernie Pyle’s reporting from North Africa durning World War II. . . . The strength of The Lion’s Grave goes beyond its character profiles to its effective navigation of the crisscrossing lines of Afghan politics. . . . [It] captures a time and place that no one who reads it will forget. . . . For anyone tired of instant journalism, this book reflects an older art.”—Frank Smyth, The Washington Post Book World
“Anderson sketches the topography and the personalities of Afghanistan with equal effectiveness. . . . These pieces will survive as a lucid account of the last days of the Taliban. . . . Anderson deserves a wide readership among those who want to review why America is engaged in an ongoing war on terrorism and reflect on the sacrifices some journalists make to cover wars and conflict.”—Michael Hedges, Houston Chronicle
“Paints a vivid portrait of a wasteland of a country, ravaged by decades of warfare and warlords. . . . The writing is smooth, at times even lyrical, and in a bit of smart storytelling, Anderson has framed chapters with e-mails he exchanged—via laptop and satellite phone—with his editor in New York.”—Neena Pellegrini, The Seattle Times/Post Intelligencer
“What Jon Lee Anderson delivers here is nothing short of miraculous: raw combat reportage composed with such grace that it's easy to miss the bullets whizzing by. . . . Like Ryszard Kapuscinski before him, [Anderson's reports] are as much literary travelogues as news dispatches. . . . [The Lion's Grave is] an on-the-fly portrait of rough geography and shifting alliances.”—Bruce Barcott, Outside Magazine
“[Anderson’s] manner is refreshingly understated and [his] temper is mild; his powers of observation and his knack for first accessing tough stories and then conveying them are second to none.”—Austin Chronicle
“Journalist Jon Lee Anderson’s 2003 collection sets a new standard for war correspondence.” —Outside
“Jon Lee Anderson did more than any other reporter on the scene to lighten the murk of Afghanistan and help us come to terms with Taliban culture. But getting there was more than half the fun. Anderson’s reports to his editors at The New Yorker of his on-the-road travails, reprinted here, are as inside as it gets. His ability to get where he needed to be is, in itself, a compelling story.” —Seymour M. Hersh, author of The Dark Side of Camelot and The Samson Option
“Jon Lee Anderson is the real thing. In an age of celebrity journalists playing foreign correspondent on TV, and expert commentators who safely dissect wars from thousands of miles away, Anderson is on the front lines. He is a fearless, smart, dedicated, and trenchant reporter, whose careful writing does what the best journalism always does: it changes the way we see.”—Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo
“There were the seasoned war reporters who sneaked into places where few sane people dared to go. That’s what Anderson did in order to capture—better than television could—the nuances of a land ruled by gun-hugging tribal chiefs, ruthless warlords and gangs of renegade Taliban fighters. . . . This compelling book supports the widely held notion that no job in journalism is harder than the foreign correspondent’s. To understand September 11, we have to understand Afghanistan—and that’s what Anderson bravely helps us do.”—Alan Prince, Bookpage
“Intense, immediate reporting from the front lines in Afghanistan . . . The essays . . . offer snapshots of the war’s progress as Anderson chews over the progression of events with local Northern Alliance leaders, pokes around an abandoned bin Laden compound, interviews the occasional Afghan woman . . . and casts an eye over Kabul after the fall of the Taliban. . . . An important and eminently readable account from the heart of chaos.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A riveting account of developments in Afghanistan since September 11, 2001. The author’s reporting reflects an astute understanding of the constellation of sociopolitical forces in today’s Afghanistan. Anderson’s penetrating observations and his ability to bring life to his subject—the fall of Kandahar and Kunduz, the dangerous search of the Tora Bora caves—are admirable. Highly recommended.”—Nader Entessar, Library Journal
“A compelling look at the war and politics of an international hot spot. . . . In this graphic account, which includes his diary entries, Anderson recounts the arduous task of developing sources and reporting on the complexities of a nation caught up in its own ethnic and religious conflicts and its place in the new war on terrorism.”—Vanessa Bush, Booklist
“Vital, eminently readable. . . . Anderson is a good, plain writer with an eye for detail.”—Wally Hammond, Time Out London (UK)