War Reporting for Cowards: Between Iraq and a Hard Place

War Reporting for Cowards: Between Iraq and a Hard Place

by Chris Ayres (Author)

Synopsis

Chris 'risk averse' Ayres saw journalism as his ticket to schmoozing with celebrities and penning pompous opinion pieces. Instead he landed a plane ticket to Iraq. Chris Ayres is a self-confessed coward, born of a proud line of shirkers and well-versed in taking the cushy option. After a bad start in New York during 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, life seemed to be improving when, as a young reporter, he was promptly promoted to Los Angeles correspondent. The thrill of foreign reporting couched in the comforts of the Golden State. What could go wrong? But everything goes wrong. One day his boss calls to offer him an assignment as a war reporter, 'embedded' with US Marines on the front line of the Iraq War. Too cowardly to say no, Chris soon finds himself camped in the desert, blinded by sandstorms, caught in the crossfire, surrounded by military machismo on all sides. He decides he wants out - proud to be the first embedded reporter to bottle it. But this, his greatest act of cowardice, will almost kill him...War Reporting for Cowards is an extraordinary true story and the debut of a brilliant new voice - wry, intelligent, honest and deeply human. Hilarious, like a latter-day Scoop, it offers a seditious insight into the political events that have defined the century.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Publisher: John Murray
Published: 06 Jun 2005

ISBN 10: 0719560012
ISBN 13: 9780719560019

Media Reviews
'Chris Ayres has invented a new genre: a rip-roaring tale of adventure and derring-don't' - Toby Young, author of How To Lose Friends and Alienate People 'Of the new, or unexpected, stars the war created, my pick would be Chris Ayres, who emerged to become a stunning reporter in Iraq' - The Times 'The most honest rendering we've seen of embedded life, hands down, comes from Chris Ayres' - Washington Post 'The better things in the media war [include the] continuing brilliance of brave correspondents such as Chris Ayres' - Peter Preston, Observer 'Ayres [writes with] engaging honesty' - John Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor and bestselling author - 'What a snivelling piece of s t' - Operation Freedom
Author Bio
Chris Ayres, 29, is the west coast correspondent for The Times. He was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, grew up in the Scottish borders and was educated at the University of Hull and City University, London, before joining The Times in 1997. Ayres held the positions of media business correspondent and Wall Street correspondent, based in New York, before taking up his current position in L.A. He was an embedded reporter with the United States Marines during the 2003 Iraq War, his coverage earning him a nomination for the British Press Awards 'foreign correspondent of the year'.