Customer Reviews

Interview With History

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In these interviews Oriana Fallaci one of the most well- known journalists of the last half of the twentieth century confronted a whole host of powerful figures, including Henry Kissinger, Indira Gandhi, The Shah, Gaddafi, Arafat, Golda Meir, Deng Xiaoping. The book was published in 1976 and almost all of these leaders are no longer on the world - scene. Fallaci too through the years developed far different views than the ones she championed in this interview. In her latter years she concentrated on pointing out the danger to European Society and Civilization she felt an aggressive radical Islam presented.
But in these interviews too she is true to her own credo,
"I have always looked on disobedience toward the oppressive as the only way to use the miracle of having been born."
Fallaci who covered wars throughout the world, and was almost killed more than once while doing so,had great personal courage and strong moral convinction.
She passed away in Sept . 2006. T
This present volume contains many of the interviews she is most famous for.

This is a book that ought to be in every library. We can debate about whether Oriana Fallaci is an objective observer, or even whether her partisanship clouds her interviews - but she's a partisan for freedom - not ideology of any kind, and her passion transcends petty notions of objectivity when her goal is not to persuade us, but to let us see into the minds of those creating history. These interviews are historical gems. No journalist I have ever seen takes on tyrants and idealists like she did, and this time capsule of a book, with its snapshots in time in all its hysteria and fatalism and hubris - I cannot praise the book enough.

If you're interested in hearing from the leaders of the '70's in their own words, then this is a historian's goldmine.

Fallaci's weaknesses are also her strengths. She's so passionate a journalist, you get a rush off her energy. But her passion also clouds her objectivity, so she seems often fanatical in her opinions and attitudes. If you want to experience the equivalent of reading an arm-waving passionate Italian, this is a worthy book.

If you have not read an interview by Orianna Fallaci, then this book, Interview with History, is a must read. Not only is she well versed in history and politics, she has an irreverent, poignant, disciplined yet adventurous approach to interviewing some of the world's most powerful personalities in the early 1970's. Somehow she manages to elicit comments that are candid and revealing in ways the interviewees never anticipated, and which for the reader--and Ms. Fallaci--are fresh and welcome in our age of celebrity and superficial journalism. Ms. Fallaci's background perspective in each interview, her insites, her perspective, offer the reader a sharp, insightful mind that challenges our thinking...in the best possible way.

This is one of the best collection of interviews I've read, and show us how journalism can and should be. Spin politicians and businesspeople, beware...you won't like Ms. Fallaci's approach and assessments. But for those of us who are tired of cant and empty rhetoric, her interviews are a glimpse into how we should all approach politicians and celebrities: with sceptism, with intelligence, with principle. It's a great, highly recommended read...I only wish she could continue interviewing--and exposing--the foibles and attitudes of those the media annoints as worthy.

This book shows what a fascinating woman Oriana Fallaci was. These stories in this book are the interviews themselves. She interviewed many important figures in history. i.e. Henry Kissinger, Golda Meir, Yasir Arafat, the Shah of Iran, Indira Ghandi and many more. Fascinating reading.

Tight historical context for what we are seeing today (Dec 2009). Scary how we don't learn, or even pay attention.

history is tradionally a slave to the powerful conquerers;it createsa perception of reality with a juandiced view.Oraina blends the present from the vantage point of hindsight looking deep into future.The CONTEPOROIES ARE PORTRAYED MAGNIficiently revealing thier weak innerselves.