Will I love The Great War for Civilisation?

I admit drawing a big breath before buying this book. At nearly 1200 pages of dense type, it’s no lightweight.

But years before, I had admired Fisk’s war reporting. Here, I found all the qualities I remembered: nuanced geopolitics with humanity, brutal honesty with subtle observation, pointed modern parallels from an erudite grasp of history. Then I delight in the sheer virtuosity of word craft: not surprising from someone who wrote thousands of words to deadline, sometimes shouting his despatches against cannon fire over stuttering phone lines.

Above all, I find myself repeatedly inspired by his ability to observe and… show more.

Robert Fisk was an English war correspondent from the 1970s in Beirut to the 1990s throughout the world’s conflict zones. A real frontline journalist, he interviewed Osama Bin Laden in remote, dangerous locations three times. This book serves several purposes. One is to bear witness to the gritty realities behind US foreign policy headlines. The next is memoir, and one feels as if only by writing it all down can Fisk himself believe what an amazing life he has had (like a real-life Forest Gump.)

The book also is a dedication in love to his father and grandfather, both front-line… show more.