[.ca] Naked In Baghdad: The Iraq War as Seen by NPR's ... (ISBN 0312424191)

excellent fast paced read:
After following Anne Garrels honest and intelligent NPR reports from Baghdad during the early days of the war in Iraq, this book had my attention from page one. Anne Garrels is courageous in her story telling and focus of something other than the obvious politics...the Iraqi people and the reality of her day to day experience. She reported this journal with both compassion and chutzpah. We need more journalists like Anne Garrels.

Listen to the silences...:
While another reviewer chided Anne Garrels for reporting on "local color", it is that local color that helps to paint the picture of the Iraq that we find ourselves struggling with today. The people she met, the stories they told, the future they predicted, all came together to help me, a true non-student of politics, understand the situation a bit better. I'd love a follow-up done sometime - what has happened to some of the people she knew in the year or so since she left Baghdad? What else do we need to hear from Iraq's people... not the militants, but the true, proud, Iraqi people who deeply want the future they dared dream of? The story says much - both in what has been written, as well as by what was not said. This is not a review of American policy, but a glimpse into the Iraq of late 2002 and early 2003. The audio version was outstanding. The narration by the author moved with the story, leading me to think that she was, perhaps, envisioning the events again as they unfolded. It felt very much "present tense". The e-mails from Vint Lawrence added a break and contrast, and truly enhanced the tale.

Fascinating insider's look at the war in Iraq:
I'm not good with detail so I will just give my impressions of this book. Normally I have trouble reading non-fiction but I had heard Anne Garrels on NPR and couldn't help being curious about the woman behind the insightful reports from Baghdad. I took "Naked in Baghdad" with me on vacation in Maui and had trouble putting the book down. It was an easy read but not at all fluffy. I was impressed not only by her intelligence and sensitivity as she tried to convey what the situation was like for normal Iraqi citizens, but also her bravery and dedication to her job. I also enjoyed her husband Vint Lawrence's email updates to friends and family, which were both touching and entertaining. The story of her relationship with her driver/translator Amer was also impressive. I am recommending this to all of my friends!

Compelling Personal Account Takes You Right There:
First off, the few reviews that slam this book for liberal bias, are far more guilty of prejudging than is Garrells; one wonders if they've even read her work. Her portrait of life under Sadam Hussein is sympathetic only to the citizens who live in terror of speaking freely, not of his repressive regime. As mentioned by other reviewers, Garrells really keeps her focus on the the Iraqi's personal experiences and on her own difficulties try to do her job in a corrupt and dangerous enivronment, not on the politics surrounding the war. Before it even starts, both she and the Iraqis seem to view the war as a virtually unavoidable certainty. The book is also a very compelling portrait of what it's like to be an international journalist, specifically a female international journalist. Additionally, Garrells makes compelling comparissions to her experience in Iraq to her experiences covering another repressive regime, the Soviet Union. If I'd read this book when I was in high school, I might have seriously considered a career in internaitonal journalism. While she doesn't make it seem like a glamorous, safe or easy job, it does come across as one of the most challanging and rewarding. Ms. Garrells is a terrific writer, and this nearly contemporaneous account of the build-up to the Iraq invasion helps flesh out the portrait of a time and place on the brink of war.

A good read, but little more:
This is a well-written, often fascinating account of life in Baghdad under Saddam while waiting for the bombs to fall. It's fun to hear some of the events from war-time Baghdad told from the receiving end. That said, all she ever reported was local color. What was the purpose in risking her life, except for her own ego and adrenalin rush? This is a nice little book, but there's not much new or relevant here about the Iraqi situation.