Moises Saman: Afghanistan Broken Promise (Paperback)

~ Rory Stuart (Author), (Contributor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Moises Saman, born in Lima, Peru, in 1974, was a Los Angeles college student when he traveled Chiapas to photograph the aftermath of the 1995 Zapatista uprising. After graduation he traveled to Kosovo, and he's been working as a photojournalist ever since. Saman was one of only a few American photographers to remain in Baghdad during the 2003 Coalition bombing campaign, when he was arrested and accused of espionage by the Iraqi secret police. He spent eight days in prison before being deported to Jordan, after which he returned to continue his coverage. In this book, he returns to Afghanistan. The dramatic photographs collected in Afghanistan Broken Promises track five years of conflict in that country, and observe the apparent failure of the reconstruction effort: due to violence and government corruption, all of the large-scale reconstruction projects outside Kabul are at a standstill, while high-rise luxury hotels and late-model BMWs can be seen all over the capital. As before and during Taliban rule, warlords and militias control whole provinces without regard for human rights. And now the Taliban itself has been embarking on major offensives again. Broken Promise observes the lives of Afghan civilians beginning with the 2001 U.S. invasion and up through the resurgence of violence in 2006-07. Saman is a full-time photographer for Newsday.

About the Author

Moises Saman was born in Lima, Peru, in 1974. At the age of eighteen, he moved to Los Angeles to study photography at UC Fullerton. During his junior year in college, he took his first trip to a conflict zone, traveling to Chiapas, Mexico, where he photographed the aftermath of the Zapatista uprising. After graduating, he interned at Newsday in New York. Shortly thereafter, Saman set out for the war-torn Balkans where he spent a month traveling through Kosovo. Upon returning to New York, he was hired as a full-time photographer by Newsday, where he has concentrated on international assignments including imigration stories in Central America, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Afghanistan, and, most recently, the war in Iraq--from Baghdad. During his assignment in Baghdad, Saman, along with four foreign journalists, was accused of espionage and imprisoned by the Iraqi secret police, the Mukhabarat. He spent eight days in prison before his release and deportation to Jordan. He has since returned to Iraq on multiple occasions to continue his coverage of the ongoing conflict. The winner of two Newsday Publisheris Awards, he recently received second prize in the prestigeous 2003 World Press Photo Award for General News. In 2006, he won first prize from the New York Press Photographers Association and an Honorable Mention form the National Press Association for his Afghanistan reportage.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Charta (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8881586460
• ISBN-13: 978-8881586462
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,208,775 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)