True accounts of a courageous female journalist... describing her time in the Middle East. She relates the clash of cultures and religions, the slippery notion of truth, and the effect of violence on ordinary people. What comes out is that there are no good guys, not the Americans, not the Jews, not the Muslims. The book's value is not the imparting of facts, but the conveying of life in that part of the world. I'm glad I read the book, but it is depressing.

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One of my top 10 books. She's a gorgeous writer and gives you a sense of her experience without making it a travelogue or the typical litany of tragedy. The chapters are capsules of her experience and thought - as well as windows into life as a journalist and the lives of the people she reports about. I started another "personal experience" book during the same time (The Blue Sweater) and this book was so much more authentic and vibrant. I rarely keep books - this one will be on that shelf.

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