Flirting with Danger: Confessions of a Reluctant War Reporter [Paperback]

Siobhan Darrow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 8, 2002

Former star correspondent for CNN, Siobhan Darrow covered the world’s hottest war zones over the last two decades, reporting from the front lines in Moscow, Chechnya, the Balkans, Albania, Israel, and Northern Ireland. Her fearless pursuit of stories placed her in countless life-threatening situations, prompting Darrow to wonder what about her character so attracted her to adrenaline, and so alienated her from the family life a part of her longed for. Darrow approaches this question with the same honesty–and seat-of-the-pants courage–that established her reputation as a premiere reporter, and the answers she arrives at form this riveting memoir of a woman assigned to cover history in the making, even as she chases down the most elusive “get” of all: her own happiness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The words "love" and "disaster" should have found their way into this illuminating but uneven memoir's title: in her account of her years as a CNN correspondent in flash points around the world, Darrow is nearly always in (or searching for) the former and nearly always on the brink of the latter. Darrow covered civil wars in Georgia and Chechnya, the Soviet "dis-Union" of the early 1990s and the troubles in Northern Ireland, and did so with remarkable, bullet-dodging courage; she also found herself struggling with difficult family relationships and a host of lamentable boyfriends. Sometimes such strikingly different subjects don't fit comfortably into a single narrative, but Darrow tries admirably (if not always successfully) to explain each in terms of the other. Russia in the 1980s "felt like one giant dysfunctional family. I was perfectly at home there," she writes; later, in the Balkans, she muses that it may have been because of the dynamics in her own family "that I felt so drawn to trying to understand the less popular views [such as those of the Serbs] around the world." Darrow's tale contains plenty of similar and mawkish revelations, but it also offers memorable snapshots of life on the front lines: when Yeltsin's tanks shoot missiles at the Parliament building in Moscow in October 1993, women pushing strollers stopped to watch the fireworks; hospitable Georgian rebels called temporary cease-fires to feed CNN reporters; Darrow herself got a spa manicure while listening to exploding shells in the Croatian streets. These moments are the book's best they feel sharp and real, on the one hand, and on the other, they're a lot less familiar than the usual workaholic's quest for love and inner peace.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Darrow offers an intimate, revealing description of her life not only as a war correspondent, but also as a woman searching for her own happiness. Born into a dysfunctional family, she re-created unhealthy patterns over and over in her life. As a teenager she was a quiet honor student, and a smoker, drinker, and shoplifter. As a university student in Russia, she married a Russian fashion photographer even though she knew that it would "entangle her in a green card marriage with a man who was not really in love with me." From her descriptions of the nearly empty food stores with only slightly edible food to the maternity wards of Moscow, the author captures the haunting despair and dysfunction of everyday life in Communist Russia. She recounts reporting from the front lines in Chechnya, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Israel, and Albania. In Chechnya, "they [the CNN crew] lived like animals, the way most people live in a war," working 18 to 20 hours a day to produce a 2-minute story. With the same courage and honesty that she reported events on the front line, Darrow also reports on her own constant search for love and companionship. Students will gain insight into foreign cultures and the slow maturation of a courageous woman in search of herself. A compelling mixture of love and war in exotic settings.
Jane S. Drabkin, Chinn Park Regional Library, Prince William, VA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; First Edition. pb original edition (January 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038572134X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385721349
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,574,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, honest and thoughtful!, January 11, 2002

By 

Stephanie Bowen (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flirting with Danger: Confessions of a Reluctant War Reporter (Paperback)

Darrow's story is not only about the wars she covered, but about self-discovery. With sometimes alarming honesty, she takes us through the trenches of various war zones and the battle zones of her heart. I learned as much about myself as I did about this brave reporter and vulnerable woman as I flipped through the pages, captivated by every word. Darrow draws the reader in from the first paragraph, where she tells the wrenching story of her poverty-striken childhood, then keeps the reader hooked as she takes them through her career at CNN, her many failed relationships, and ultimately to the self-discovery that redeems her in the end. I recommend this book to all professional women.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, December 6, 2003

By 

Hannah (Joplin, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flirting with Danger: Confessions of a Reluctant War Reporter (Paperback)

I thought this book was pretty good. It was really intriguing to hear what a person in those situations really thinks about. She's had a very interesting life. She is a very intellectual writer.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War and (inner) Peace, January 17, 2002

By 

Jane E. Martens (TOUFFAILLES France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flirting with Danger: Confessions of a Reluctant War Reporter (Paperback)

Flirting With Danger takes the reader on a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the day-to-day life of a foreign correspondent. Siobhan openly shares her ambivalence at being an eyewitness to many of the pivotal events that shaped the back end of the last century. Her work took her to some of the most dangerous places on earth and even blasted her into outer space. When she asks herself "what am I doing here?" she embarks on the toughest assignment of all - the one taken in pursuit of self-discovery. An honest, courageous and thoroughly enjoyable autobiography.