The Secret Life of War: Journeys Through Modern Conflict

(Paperback)

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Description

A classic of war reportage. A defining book about the experience of conflict, for those living through it and those reporting it, distilled from a decade and a half on the world's frontlines. War has changed. In the past, states clashed and battles were fought between armies. Today superpowers are pitted against warlords.The Observer's chief foreign correspondent Peter Beaumont, takes us into the guts of modern conflict. He visits the bombed and abandoned home of Mullah Omar; discovers a deserted Al Qaeda camp where he finds documents describing a plan to attack London; talks to young bomb-throwers in a Rafah refugee camp.Unflinching and utterly gripping, The Secret Life of War is a deeply personal and defining vision of the inner, secret nature of modern war.

Reviews

An intelligent, deeply perceptive work drawn from nearly two decades of experience reporting conflict * The Times *
Magnificent - this book should be required reading * Tribune *
Beaumont's account of war reporting in the Middle East is astonishing, not least for its careful detail and his self-searching honesty. A superb piece of work * Esquire *
Beaumont's book is on a different plane to the others and will outlast many of them * Sunday Times *
The Secret Life of War is an awesome read, the best enquiry into killing and suffering I've encountered. A plea for resolution, a document of brutal honesty, the bare truth: in it beats the pulse of being there in the throes of modern conflict -- Tim Page

Author Bio

Peter Beaumont is the Foreign Affairs Editor of the Observer. He joined the paper in 1989 and has covered numerous conflicts and crises. He is the recipient of various awards including the One World Media Award, the Amnesty International Media award, and the George Orwell Prize for Journalism. He was educated at Hampton Grammar School and Keble College, Oxford and lives in London.