Deadlines from the Edge: Images of War – Congo to Afghanistan
by Hamilton Wende
(Viking)
There is something compelling about reports of war. The old news cliché ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ is true. Similarly, war correspondents’ autobiographies frequently draw us into situations that repel, commanding our attention while making us wonder how anyone could do such a depressing job.
South African-based TV journalist Hamilton Wende’s book evokes such a gut response. He describes civil wars in Congo, Rwanda and Sudan, the United States war in Afghanistan, guerrilla war in Israel/Palestine with a mixture of attention to political detail, irony and compassion. In his opening chapter he ascribes his start in journalism to a combination of buying an old map in New York and hearing voices in different languages on a radio as a child. That, and fascination for television as a medium.
His accounts of contemporary conflict are detailed yet focused on people: eccentrics, thugs, more often than not very ordinary folk caught in the crossfire. In addition, what makes this book particularly readable are the stories about his fellow journalists, the risks they take and the kind of people they are.