Review: Anderson Cooper’s Dispatches from the Edge

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

Non-Fiction (Memoir/Current Events), Published 2006

Challenges: Audio Book

Read Feb 2011, Unabridged Audio – 6 hrs

4.5/5

From the Cover:

Anderson Cooper’s groundbreaking coverage on CNN has changed the way we watch the news.  Few people have witnessed more scenes of chaos and conflict around the world.  In this gripping, candid, and remarkably powerful memoir, he offers an unstinting, up-close view of the most harrowing crises of our time, and the profound impact they have had on his life – from the tsunami in Sri Lanka to the war in Iraq, from the starvation in Niger to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Mississippi.

Striking, heartfelt, and utterly engrossing, Dispatches from the Edge is an unforgettable story from on of America’s most trusted, fearless, and pioneering reporters.

Thoughts:

First off, can I say how I LOVE all the commas in the descriptions! No, seriously, the fact that there’s a comma before “and” in the title really makes me happy because I know this is how I learned it in elementary grammar and people just disregard the use of commas these days.

Also, I had no idea Anderson Cooper was Gloria Vanderbilt’s son until he says so in the introduction.  That has major clout, or at least I think it would, and yet it seems that Anderson has never used the Vanderbilt name to get ahead in life. He lives on the edge of the major news stories, waiting and needing to be on the front lines of the action. This definitely gets a thumbs up from me.

Secondly, he had me at page 2 of the introduction:

“As a boy looking at the globe, I grew up believing, as most people do, that the earth is round.  Smoothed like a stone by thousands of years of evolution and revolution.  Whittled by time.  Scraped by space.  I thought that all the nations and oceans, the rivers and valleys, were already mapped out, named, and explored.  But in truth, the world is constantly shifting: shape and size, location in space.  It’s got edges and chasms, too many to count.  They open up, close, reappear somewhere else.  Geologists may have mapped out the planet’s tectonic plates – hidden shelves of rock that grind, one against the other, forming mountains, creating continents – but they can’t plot the fault lines that run through our heads, divide our hearts.” (pp. 4-5)

Just beautiful!  His personal story is truly heartbreaking and I have heard him talk about it more on his talk show now (2012), but he says in the book that so few people knew his real story.  I loved his writing and  the fact that he narrates his own story.  I hope he continues to publish in the future!

More quotes:

I’ve been a journalist for fifteen years now, and have reported on some of the worst situations on earth: Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq.  I’ve seen more dead bodies that I can count, more horror and hatred than I can remember, yet I’m still surprised by what I discover in the far reaches of our planet, the truths revealed in the dwindling light of day, when everything else has been stripped away, exposed, raw as a gutted shark on a fisherman’s pier.  The farther you go, however, the harder it is to return.  The world has many edges, and it’s easy to fall off. (pp. 5-6)

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How Abraham Lincoln Created His Team of Rivals

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, narrated by Richard Thomas, abridged 9.5 hours

Non-fiction/Biography/Memoirs/History/Politics, Published 2005

Read March 2010

Challenges: Audio Book Reading Challenge

Awards: Lincoln Prize in 2006

Source: SimplyAudiobooks

3.9/5

From the Cover:

Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln’s political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become president.

On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago.  When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry.

Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war.  That Lincoln succeeded, Goodwin demonstrates, was the result of a charachter that had been forged by experiences that raised him above his more privileged and accomplished rivals.  He won because he possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling, to understand their motives and desires.

It was this capacity that enabled Lincoln as president to bring his disgruntled opponents together, create the most unusual cabinet in history, and marshal their talents to the task of preserving the Union and winning the war.

We view the long, horrifying struggle from the vantage of the White House as Lincoln copes with incompetent generals, hostile congressmen, and his raucous cabinet.  He overcomes these obstacle by winning the respect of his former competitors, and in the case of Seward, finds a loyal and crucial friend to see him through.

Review:

I find it hard to review audio books, especially non-fiction, because I feel like I miss SO much information, but I’m not sure if I would have been able to keep up the momentum and finish it if I were actually reading the book.  I enjoyed the narrator.  This was the abridged addition and I feel like much of the personal information about his family and home life were left out.  I don’t know this for sure, since I haven’t read the whole book, but the main focus was on Lincoln’s political maneuvers and the reasons behind his decisions.  I think the special touch that this author adds to the history is researching Lincoln’s peers: their letters and diaries, to see how they truly felt and reacted to the President.  Lincoln had a lot going on at home, yet he also put his nation first.  There were several illnesses and one of his children died during his time in office.  I think I would have liked to hear Mary’s view of things, how things were at home with Lincoln so focused on the policies at the time.

This book ranged from when and how Lincoln arrived to the Presidency to the day he was assassinated.  It is amazing that his name was even in the presidential election and that he actually won.  Just think how different our American history might be if Abraham Lincoln had not been President!  One major point driven over and over again was that Lincoln always looked at both sides of an issue.  He had several cabinet members who did not share the same visions and policies, yet Lincoln always made them feel important and needed to balance all political decisions, thus creating a “Team of Rivals.”

Quotes:

“Very few public men in history had possessed it – none have ever shown the popular mind as Abraham Lincoln.”

“In democracy, every step he took must seem wise to the public mind.”

These quotes were taken from the end of the audio book and I have no idea which chapter…

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Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake

Frank Abagnale with Stan Redding

NF – True Crime/Memoir, Published 2002

Read April-May 2008

3.5/5

From the Cover:

Frank Abagnale, alias Frank Williams, Robert Conrad, Frank Adams, and Robert Monjo, was one of the most daring con men, forgers, impostors, and escape artists in history. During his brief but notorious criminal career, Abagnale donned a pilot’s uniform and copiloted a Pan Am jet, masqueraded as the supervising resident of a hospital, practiced law without a license, passed himself off as a college sociology professor, and cashed over $2.5 million in forged checks – all before he was twenty-one. A hilarious, stranger-than-fiction account of his sumptuous life on the lam, international escapades, and ingenious escapes, Catch Me If You Can is a captivating tale of deceit.

Why did you choose this book?

I’ve wanted to read this book ever since I saw the movie and I borrowed probably close to 2 years ago from my cousin Mel. I’m pretty sure she’s already read it and has enough books in her own TBR pile that she hasn’t missed it too much since I “borrowed” it. =) Anyway, back to the story…I was really intrigued by the idea that someone so personable and lovable as Frank, at least when viewed as Leonardo DiCaprio, could commit so many crimes and have it come across as fun.

Overall Opinion:

What I found to be the most impressive thing about Abagnale was how he studied for every con. He went in knowing his subject. He studied to be a pilot, a doctor, an attorney, college professor and convincingly pulled it off. Frank never actually had to fly a plane, thank goodness, he just deadheaded from one city to another, staying for free in the payed for pilot amenities. His main scam included cashing checks from real bank accounts, just without the funds, then later cashing Pan Am checks. He also forged his degrees from Columbia and Harvard. He let the nurses and resident doctors handle the patients, and even taught class by the books. And he did all this before he was 21!

After spending only six months in the harsh French prison were Frank says he lost track of time in the dark and dank “hole”, Frank was expedited to Sweden. The Swedish prison system really let Frank off easy. After serving only a few months in the Sweden’s prison system, which Frank described as more than lenient, a judge revoked his American passport so he had to return to the US, without going to any of the other dozen or so countries who wanted him to serve time. He was then sentenced 12 years in the US prison system but only served less than 3 years. Frank is now one of the world’s leading experts preventing bank fraud.

To me, this fun run-about story seems unrealistic, but then again, much of the security and technology was not present during the time of Frank’s scams. Frank really had nerve. He convincingly lied his way through nearly 2.5 million dollars in the late 1960s. And he got off so easy! Even though many of his scams have been made nearly impossible because of today’s technology, it’s amazing how so many people took Frank at face value. I’m definitely going to have to re-watch the movie now to compare.

For more info…

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