In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin

In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin

by Lindsey Hilsum (Author)

Synopsis

** BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK ** `It has always seemed to me that what I write about is humanity in extremis, pushed to the unendurable, and that it is important to tell people what really happens in wars.' Marie Colvin, 2001 Marie Colvin was glamorous, hard-drinking, braver than the boys, with a troubled and rackety personal life. With fierce compassion and honesty, she reported from the most dangerous places in the world, fractured by conflict and genocide, going in further and staying longer than anyone else. In Sri Lanka in 2001, Marie was hit by a grenade and lost the sight in her left eye - resulting in her trademark eye patch - and in 2012 she was killed in Syria. Like her hero, the legendary reporter Martha Gellhorn, she sought to bear witness to the horrifying truths of war, to write `the first draft of history' and crucially to shine a light on the suffering of ordinary people. Written by fellow foreign correspondent Lindsey Hilsum, this is the story of the most daring war reporter of her age. Drawing on unpublished diaries and notebooks, and interviews with Marie's friends, family and colleagues, In Extremis is the story of our turbulent age, and the life of a woman who defied convention.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 416
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Published: 01 Nov 2018

ISBN 10: 1784740934
ISBN 13: 9781784740931
Book Overview: The gripping life story of journalist Marie Colvin, celebrated across the world as the greatest war correspondent of her generation, who was tragically killed in Syria in 2012

Media Reviews
A stunningly good biography - compelling, revelatory and very moving. Lindsey Hilsum is the perfect writer to tell the story of Marie Colvin's rackety, brave and charismatic life -- William Boyd
Rarely has a friend and colleague written such a brave and uncompromising testament to such a rare, brave and uncompromising woman. Would that a few more of us should be so blessed in our courage and our friends -- Shami Chakrabarti
Writing a biography of Marie Colvin is like capturing lightning in a bottle, but Lindsey Hilsum has the knowledge and personal experience to help us understand what drew Colvin to rush towards the eye of the storm at such great risk. It is a superbly fitting tribute -- Annie Lennox
In Lindsey Hilsum, Marie Colvin has found, posthumously, the right biographer. She penetrates the war-zone of Colvin's life, and fetches her back in all her beautiful, brave complexity. This is a heartbreaking portrait that does not detract from the legend, but understands the compulsions which returned Colvin time and again to seek out the most dangerous places -- Nicholas Shakespeare
One of the modern world's most experienced and admired foreign correspondents, Lindsey Hilsum, has now written a riveting, intimate and deeply moving account of the epic life of her late friend and colleague, Marie Colvin, who will be long remembered - not least because of Hilsum's fine work in this book - as amongst the great war reporters of her generation -- Jon Lee Anderson
Author Bio
Lindsey Hilsum is Channel 4 News International Editor. She has covered many of the conflicts of recent years, including Syria, Ukraine and the Arab Spring - sometimes alongside Marie Colvin. In 1994, she was the only English-speaking foreign correspondent in Rwanda when the genocide began. She was in Belgrade for the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia, and in Baghdad for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. She has won awards from the Royal Television Society and BAFTA amongst others, and was the recipient of the 2017 Patron's Medal from the Royal Geographical Society. Her last book Sandstorm: Libya from Gadaffi to Revolution was described by the Observer as `an account with historical depth to match dramatic reportage.'