In Extremis

September 1, 2018
British journalist Hilsum (Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution, 2012) builds on her personal experiences with reporting from war zones to relate the death-defying professional wanderings of Marie Colvin (1956-2012).Colvin lost an eye while reporting the war in Sri Lanka, and she wore a patch for her remaining years. In 2012, while working in a deadly area of Syria, she was killed by an explosion. Thanks to journals, appointment diaries, and unpublished reporting notes that she took starting at age 13, Hilsum is able to portray Colvin in remarkable fullness. "She was the most admired war correspondent of our generation," writes the author, "one whose personal life was scarred by conflict, too, and although I counted her as a friend, I understood so little about her." By many indications, Colvin's childhood on Long Island, her adolescence, and her early work life didn't point to decades of dangerous work as a war correspondent. But from an early age, she also demonstrated an attraction to danger and hard living, including substance abuse and relationships with unstable men. Though some readers may pity Colvin for the life she chose, which included a periodic desire for motherhood that she never attained, most will view her life with great admiration. She was extremely loyal to friends and lovers, showed empathy for the dispossessed in war-torn, genocidal nations, and participated in unmatched global adventures. Hilsum skillfully explains the politics, economics, ethnic hatreds, and additional context of the nations where Colvin reported, with emphases on Libya, Chechnya, Zimbabwe, Kosovo, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Syria. Mixed in with the globe-trotting, Colvin lived a complicated day-to-day life in both England and the United States, intervals explained with admirable detail and subtlety by the author, who draws on face-to-face interviews as well as the papers left behind by Colvin.A rip-roaring life rendered extremely well.

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Starred review from November 5, 2018
Hilsum, international editor for Channel 4 News in England, chronicles American journalist Marie Colvin’s experiences at the front lines of war zones in this inspiring, vivid biography. Compiling information from Colvin’s personal journals and interviews with colleagues, the book traces Colvin’s path as a correspondent for Britain’s Sunday Times from Beirut in 1986 to the trenches of the Syrian civil war. A dedicated reporter, Colvin (1956–2012) stayed in dangerous situations against her editors’ wishes and wrote with a personal empathy rare in war journalism. Her boldness led to her losing her vision in her left eye from a grenade explosion on a Sri Lankan battlefield in 1999; she wore an eye patch for the rest of her life. She died at age 56 in 2012, in a bombardment of a Syrian safe house a day after she gave a live satellite interview on CNN. The book is rich in historical context, concisely summarizing international conflicts using excerpts from Colvin’s reporting (“There was no talk in the Košare Barracks about zero tolerance for returning body bags. They saw too many”). This intense biography is highly recommended for everyone, including journalism junkies, history buffs, and casual readers.

Starred review from October 15, 2018
Foreign correspondent Marie Colvin, born in New York City in 1956, a Yale graduate, and a longtime Middle East expert for the British newspaper, the Sunday Times, was a singular talent, one of the most significant war reporters of the twentieth century, and her death under fire in Syria in 2012 was a devastating loss. An icon for her bold field style and the eye patch she sported after an attack in Sri Lanka, Colvin lived a big life and left behind a body of work that covers every major conflict in the world, dating back several decades. Hers was a career ripe for biography, and journalist Hilsum, a colleague and friend, has done a masterful job of telling Colvin's story. This is riveting personal and professional history, told with skill and sincerity. Hilsum dances between Colvin's private life and exceptional reportage, which included interviews with everyone from Yasser Arafat to Mu'ammar Gaddhafi. Colvin is even credited with saving lives. Inspired by Martha Gellhorn, independent, and determined, Colvin enjoyed deep friendships and tempestuous romances. Drawing on Colvin's meticulous diaries and articles, and her own conversations with Colvin's family and friends, Hilsum has created something truly worthy of her subject, a biography that reads like high adventure, a masterwork that will draw well-deserved attention to a heroic witness.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from October 15, 2018

Acclaimed international reporter Marie Colvin (1956-2012) worked for the London Sunday Times from 1986 until her death, fearlessly covering the lives of citizens caught in the crosshairs of war. Hilsum (international editor, Channel News 4; Sandstorm) offers an engrossing biography based on Colvin's personal journals and more than 100 interviews that describe her childhood in Long Island, her years at Yale University, her rocky marriages, and her career as a reporter. This book shines when focused on Colvin's coverage of hot spots, including Beirut, Chechnya, Sri Lanka, and Syria, where she was targeted for death by President Bashar al-Assad. She lost an eye to shrapnel in Sri Lanka, which led to PTSD, depression, and alcohol abuse, all of which plagued her for life. Snippets of Colvin's reporting woven throughout the text provide an appreciation for her sparse, moving prose. VERDICT This unputdownable account will inspire future journalists, especially women, and should find wide audiences among those interested in global crises and international affairs. See Marwan Hisham and Molly Crabapple's Brothers of the Gun for another work about a reporter unafraid of writing truth to power. [See Prepub Alert, 6/10/18]--Karl Helicher, formerly with Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2018

The International Editor for Channel 4 News in England, Hilsum chronicles the professional and personal lives of class-of-her-own war correspondent Marie Colvin. An American working for Britain's Sunday Times, Colvin covered upheaval in Chechnya, East Timor, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe, lost an eye while reporting on Sri Lanka's civil war, and finally lost her life in Syria in 2012. Just dropped into the schedule and promising to be big.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.