Tell Them I Didn't Cry: A Young Journalist's Story of Joy, Loss, and Survival in Iraq

(Paperback)

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In her gripping account of the Iraq war, Jackie Spinner goes beyond the headlines to reveal the challenges of reporting news in a place where danger and fear accompany journalists everywhere. This is a vivid and personal story of her time in Iraq -- where for thirteen months she covered the war from its center in Baghdad, Fallujah, Kurdistan, and Abu Ghraib -- and of being transformed from a naive woman and rookie correspondent into a seasoned foreign reporter.

Jackie's account is punctuated by brief vignettes written by her identical twin sister, Jenny, who watched as Jackie was drawn further and further into a world increasingly fraught with danger. Every morning she looked for Jackie's byline in the Post, knowing only then that her sister had survived another day.

Through it all -- the violence and fear as well as the moments of humor, camaraderie, and warmth -- Jackie Spinner brings home, with brilliant intensity and candor, what it is like to report on a war under exceptional circumstances.

Reviews

"Jackie Spinner's poignant memoir of nine months as a foreign correspondent...gives a vivid picture of the sacrifices journalists make in war zones."
-- Chicago Tribune
"[Spinner's] harrowing but funny new memoir [is] the most honest war story you'll ever read. This woman is bravery personified."
-- Glamour
"Jackie Spinner's book is...an odyssey of closely observed and beautifully sequenced stages of an emotional and professional life as a reporter for The Washington Post in Iraq."
-- Ellen Mickiewicz, director, DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, Duke University
"Jackie Spinner tells this war story better than any other account."
-- Tod Robberson, The Dallas Morning News

Author Bio

Jackie Spinner is a staff writer for The Washington Post and has appeared on many major television and radio news shows. She won the Distinguished International Reporting award from the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild for her reporting in Iraq.

Jenny Spinner is an assistant professor of English at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where she teaches writing and journalism.