Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper (2006, Hardcover)

i need this book for a test in the college. In 2005, two tragedies--the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina--turned CNN reporter Anderson Cooper into a media celebrity. Dispatches from the Edge, Cooper's memoir of "war, disasters and survival," is a brief but powerful chronicle of Cooper's ascent to stardom and his struggle with his own tragedies and demons. Cooper was 10 years old when his father, Wyatt Cooper, died during heart bypass surgery. He was 20 when his beloved older brother, Carter, committed suicide by jumping off his mother's penthouse balcony (his mother, by the way, being Gloria Vanderbilt). The losses profoundly affected Cooper, who fled home after college to work as a freelance journalist for Channel One, the classroom news service. Covering tragedies in far-flung places like Burma, Vietnam, and Somalia, Cooper quickly learned that "as a journalist, no matter ... how respectful you are, part of your brain remains focused on how to capture the horror you see, how to package it, present it to others." Cooper's description of these horrors, from war-ravaged Baghdad to famine-wracked Niger, is poignant but surprisingly unsentimental. In Niger, Cooper writes, he is chagrined, then resigned, when he catches himself looking for the "worst cases" to commit to film. "They die, I live. It's the way of the world," he writes. In the final section of Dispatches, Cooper describes covering Hurricane Katrina, the story that made him famous. The transcript of his showdown with Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu (in which Cooper tells Landrieu people in New Orleans are "ashamed of what is happening in this country right now") is worth the price of admission on its own. Cooper's memoir leaves some questions unanswered--there's frustratingly little about his personal life, for example--but remains a vivid, modest self-portrait by a man who is proving himself to be an admirable, courageous leader in a medium that could use more like him.

This is a well-written and informative book.
Anderson Cooper describes three major news events in the past year with gripping details and personal comments.
As well as reporting his news experiences, he talks very candidly about himself and his life.
Reading this book was a wonderful experience.
I bought this book because I was very impressed with Anderson Cooper's coverage of hurricane Katrina for CNN. I wanted to read more about his experiences and about himself. I was not dissapointed.
Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Anderson Cooper has opened his heart and parts of his soul to his readers. He has managed to make the reader feel the pain and loss in his global stories as well as in his personal life. Anyone who has ever lost a loved one or has travelled to war torn or famine stricken areas of the world will know that it is not easy to recover or continue from such devastation. Mr. Cooper shows us that he too has had to struggle with his emotional journey and that he is trying to come to terms with it. I congratulate him for allowing us to travel with him.
I decided to buy this book as I have a huge respect for Anderson Cooper, especially after his Katrina coverage in August 2005.

4 different people had planned to buy me this book for my birthday,as they knew I could hardly wait for it's release.Well,I couldn't wait 4 days!I bought it on the day it was released.I read it in no time.It was so good,I could not put it down.I wanted it because of the author.The magazines I'd read with his writings always were interesting,as is his news show 360.When he is on location,it is really special.I want to know more about his life.He seems so down to earth to have been born "a poor little rich kid".The book told of his childhood and famous family,his hidden heartaches over the losses of his father and brother and his feeling the need to travel to far away places of disasters worse than his own.I cried with him and laughed with him.He is a great writer.Hopefully, he will write more books.Maybe take up where he left off with this one.I highly recommend it.It's # 1 on my book list.Thanks for letting me express my opinion.
Bert Piper
Bremen,Ky.

This was our book club selection this month and I really wasn't expecting much, so I was pleasantly surprised. Anderson Cooper has seen his share of disasters, that's for sure. You can only imagine how jaded film crews and reporters must get jumping from one hotbed of disaster to another; they must think same horror, different day and place. Anderson Cooper may have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but you'd never know it to read his prose; he paints a vivid picture of recent wars and catastrophes, and he links in his own personal loss but reminds us that there is goodness in the world as well. A good, quick read!