Ambushed: A War Reporter's Life on the Line [Hardcover]

Ian Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2002

Ian Stewart has reported from some of the most dangerous places on earth, but none more dangerous than Sierra Leone. When he was named West Africa bureau chief by the Associated Press, Stewart accepted his new assignment with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. He was one of the AP's youngest bureau chiefs, and over the next year he reported from the front lines of the war-ravaged countries of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, and Sierra Leone and coordinated news coverage of some twenty-three others.

AMBUSHED is a fascinating, in-depth look at the extraordinary day-to-day life of a war correspondent. Stewart presents a compelling portrait of the often surreal world that journalists inhabit as they bear witness to violence and give voice to the unspeakable. Appalled by the level of cruelty he witnessed, Stewart was shocked by the indifference of the outside world. Though his stories were sometimes buried deep inside the daily papers, or published not at all, he kept reporting the truth. When armed rebels entered Sierra Leone's besieged capital of Freetown, Stewart and two of his colleagues were ambushed while driving down the street on assignment. One of his colleagues was killed instantly, and Stewart, shot in the head, had a twenty-percent chance of surviving. Astonishingly, he did. With frankness and courage, Stewart tells the story of his extraordinary recovery and the tremendous risks he and other journalists take to give us the news.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A self-confessed "war junkie," Stewart covered the frontlines in Kashmir, Cambodia and Kabul before being appointed chief of the Associated Press's West Africa bureau in 1998. Single, in his late 20s, Stewart freely admits being addicted to the "adrenaline rush" of covering dangerous situations; he loved the edginess of beating other reporters to a hard-to-cover story. Apart from the thrills, he had a journalist's sense of mission: that by telling the world about what's happening, he could awaken the public conscience and make a difference. Stewart's game ended at a checkpoint in Freetown, Sierra Leone, when a renegade soldier fired on his vehicle, killing fellow journalist Myles Tierney and leaving a bullet in Stewart's brain. Stewart tells of his recovery: airlift out of Africa, surgery in London and therapy in the U.S. and Canada. He discusses at length his struggle to rehabilitate his torn body, but it's his understated battle to make peace with his uneasy soul that grips the reader. While the adjective-loaded, gung-ho approach to danger in the book's first half may turn off some readers, they'll be rewarded if they sit tight. By the second half, when Stewart's in a hospital bed paying more than his dues, a wiser person begins to emerge, less of a hot-dogger, more thoughtful about the human terms of situations. Readers can then remember that the real story is not the reporter, but the people they were sent to cover.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A self-described "war junkie," Stewart found himself craving dangerous assignments, starting with a trip to Afghanistan and eventually a posting covering several war-torn countries in Africa. As the Associated Press' West African bureau chief, Stewart witnessed firsthand the horrors of war in Guinea-Bissau, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone. What he witnessed was beyond his worst imaginings--pregnant women brutally slaughtered, men burned to death, and children either maimed or trained to kill. In Sierra Leone, Stewart's life was changed forever: a rebel soldier shot him in the head. Stewart's chances of survival were slim. He was rushed to a hospital in London, where the doctors worked tirelessly to save his life. Paralyzed on the left side of his body, Stewart struggled to regain some movement on his left side and also to reclaim his life. Both an important account of the unimaginably appalling violence in Sierra Leone and other African countries and a deeply personal retelling of a man's struggle after a terrible injury, this is an unforgettable memoir. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1 edition (August 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565123808
• ISBN-13: 978-1565123809
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,136,885 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > History > Africa > Sierra Leone

More About the Author

A former Associated Press foreign correspondent and bureau chief in Asia and West Africa, Ian Stewart has settled closer to home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he lives with his wife and family and is currently completing a doctorate in Anthropology and History. A journalist and author, he has several manuscripts of both fiction and non-fiction in the works.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly moving account of discovery, tragedy, and courage, November 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Ambushed: A War Reporter's Life on the Line (Hardcover)

Ian Stewarts account of conflict journalism during his time with the UPI and AP is disturbingly honest. Though Stewart confesses to being an adrenaline junkie, his narrative clearly reveals a truly compassionate professional driven to cover conflict in order to reveal atrocities that threaten human rights and more crucially human lives. Unfortunately, Ambushed is also an account of how time and time again the deaths of children, families, and communities in places like Sierra Leon are underexposed. Stewart writes about the frustration of writing countless stories about war torn regions that are never published, because the public is simply not interested. From his description is seems that this injustice lies not in the field of news coverage, but rather on the desks of news editors who choose not to print stories about Africa, the continent relegated to the back pages at best by media corporations. So civil wars, that translate into thousands upon thousands of civilian deaths go unheeded. Stewarts descriptions of the conflicts that he witnessed, predominantly based on stories that hed written for the wire, turn a careful and compassionate eye to the victims (both survivors and casualties). His attention to detail far exceeds event coverage (i.e. date, time, and body count) by attending to humane details and the individual consequences of tragedy for victims of war, whose stories he cared enough to tell. Stewarts own life was dramatically transformed, January 1999, when rebel soldiers in Freetown ambushed his car. His account of recovery, physically and psychologically are incredibly candid, and truly extend the sense of tragedy and courage to the reader. Ian Stewart has a great deal to be proud of in his career as a foreign correspondent, and undoubtedly has many more great talents and works to share with the world. I recommend this book without reservation to anyone with a heart.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reader from New York City, October 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Ambushed: A War Reporter's Life on the Line (Hardcover)

This book is a fierce page-turner that rumbles through until the very last page. Ian Stewart gives an honest and sobering account of what it's like to cover war in a region that has forever played second fiddle to the headline news. From where Stewart was filing, all the glory associated with war reportage had dried up and gone. All that remained was barbarism and terror. The book makes a powerful statement about the great myth of war and how it sits with a man --soldier or reporter --once he's on the other side of it.
We're lucky that Stewart made it out alive. This book is a must read for any young journalist, or anyone for that matter who enjoys a powerful story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Same as Penguin Canada Freetown Ambush?, January 24, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Ambushed: A War Reporter's Life on the Line (Hardcover)

I read Freetown Ambush published by Penguin Canada. If this is the American version of the same book, I highly recommend it.
Stewart's description of Ivory Coast and the disintegration of a society is compelling and the descriptions of the inside workings of the AP is very interesting. The touching story of his recovery is short and sweet. His writing style keeps moving and he explains the confusing situation in West Africa very well.