In the Hot Zone

Starred review from October 15, 2007
Fallujah, Mogadishu: the names of some locations are as familiar to news audiences as Los Angeles or Chicago. Others (Lwara, Srinagar) might just as well be situated on Mars. Some warring factions fight outsiders over disputed territory; others battle their own populace over differences in religion. In the year solo journalist Sites covered 20 wars raging around the world for the Yahoo! Internet news site The Hot Zone, he visited not only current conflicts but also remote places where the scars of ancient battles are never allowed to heal, where the definition of humanity is strained to the breaking point, and where the struggle to survive is waged on levels both epic and intimate. His keen, piercing interviews ranged from combative government ministers to composed teenage refugees, from Taliban warlords to Hizbullah combatants. Part diary, part travelogue, part behind-the-scenes expos', Sites reflections on the state of the human condition in the worlds most beleaguered settings vibrate with the immediacy born of 24/7 journalism. As gripping as his on-the-spot account are, however, Sites personal disclosures of doubt, anger, fear, and remorse elevate this chronicle to an unaccustomed and singular level of soulfulness and honesty.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)