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Dispatches From the Edge

a Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival
Nov 15, 2011
The book describes the events of 2005 as Cooper covers the effects of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Sri Lanka, the election in Iraq, starvation in West Africa, and finally, hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans. Interspersed with the events of that year are flashbacks to other tragedies. The bloodshed in Iraq intermingles with massacres in Rwanda, snipers in Bosnia, children starving in Somalia, the early death of his father, and the suicide of his brother. As a reporter, the frenetic pace of filing dispatches from war-torn countries, and the danger that came with it, helped him avoid having to look too closely at the pain and loss that he felt at home. For your consideration: vivid descriptions of death, disease and disaster