Customer Reviews

Blood on the Lens: A Filmmaker's Quest for Truth in Afghanistan

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Blood on the Lens is a good read, full of interesting anecdotes from a US documentary filmmaker's travels to Pakistan and Afghanistan between 1986-2004. The title from a particularly grizzly encounter.

The book satisfied my interest in learning more about the region. It's short-enough and written well-enough to read for interest. It's not a tome, not authoritative and referenced, but rather a first-person account of some of the adventures & misadventures that Burroughs had in working the region over this time of political turmoil. There are stories that gave me better understanding of the US/global media, and stories that provided understanding of parts of life in villages along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. The writing is at its best when describing specifics of the scenes that Burroughs encountered (a particular description of the physical roadway between Jalalabad and Kabul comes to mind). There's enough background of the recent history in the region for the anecdotes to have some context. I'd wished for better maps (two small ones included, but I got lost in trying to imagine some of the travels). An interesting Suggested Readings section at the end of the book provides an entree to learning more.

There's a film coming out - Shadow of Afghanistan - which is the docu-counterpart to the book.