Culminating Book Review Anderson Cooper’s: Dispatches from the Edge He is well known for working for CNN and is one of the most influential news reporters and show anchors. Anderson Cooper. He has written a rather tragic and informational book about his traveling and reporting experiences in a part of his life, his book is called Dispatches From The Edge, where he talks about four most important events that have occurred and made him into the person he is now. In each event, he’s with his crew, tying to get a good story and document about later.His cameraman and translator are with him, working around the clock, He begins to talk to us more about his early life, and continues to talk about his experiences in Sri Lanka, Iraq, Niger and New Orleans and all the tragic situations he has dealt with, which I strongly believe have shaped his life and changed him as a person. He was only ten when his father died.
Which kind of gives the reader a sense that his childhood wasn’t as every boy wanted it to be. His mother who was also a headlines anchor went through great pain herself as a child.His mothers “powerful” aunt had convinced the New York Court House that his mother’s mother was unfit. His mother was finally sent to live with her aunt, and soon sent off to boarding school.
On page 5, he says, “ My brother and I knew none of this as children, of course, but we’d sometimes seen a look in our mother’s eyes, a slight dilation of the pupil, a hint of pain and fear. ” This was the turning point for Cooper. He knew he had to be, not just ordinary, but someone that has great knowledge.For his mothers sake, and knowing all the pain that she’d been through, he wanted to see her happy about something. So as he turned twenty-five, he found his self to have a job, a salary and after months of traveling, he became a foreign correspondent. It was almost like an addiction for him.
He didn’t remember what a “normal life” was. He cannot, as he said, stop. He has been through great pain. As he grows up, his parents were either not there, or were dealing with many other issues.
And when he nearly has started a great career, his own brother committed suicide right before his eyes.For a reason he doesn’t even know. But this was where and when it all started. This was the great impact on Coopers life.
Cooper covered hundreds of stories, in the beginning he is in Sri Lanka, the morning after Christmas. He explains why the tsunami has occurred. He cannot nearly describe the feeling and what he sees. He feels like this was a part of him that was almost “craving” to see.
After his brother died, he thought seeing death was normal for him. He put himself into those dangerous situations just to see more.I find it, that, the main conflict of this part was the fact that he was searching for a conflict. Once he finally gets his hands on ”breaking news”, he finds himself looking for that story’s, lets say, characters.
Staring at a wall of pictures, trying to identify the members. It was after similar events where he did not seem to care about what normal was. But Cooper, however, did not know what that was. Instead the second he found out about the war in Iraq, he was on a plane, not knowing at all where he would go from there.This I felt was the most crucial part in defining the direction his life went to. His need to see blood and bodies was becoming into a conflict itself.
He described himself as beastly. He forgot what being normal was. This was rather disturbing, and very negative direction to where his life was heading. This book is almost to an end. He talks to us about how his attitude has been changing. He soon gets sick of everything he does.
He is at a breaking point. In the beginning all that seemed that he wanted was stories, ratings, viewers, blood and bodies! This really opened his eyes and made him realize that being in these disasters has changed him. Completely. It scared him. He felt uncomfortable. Like he wanted to run away.
It was almost like his senses were back in tact. He started to think everyone else was dull and stupid. But, he finally came to realize it was he all along. It was his change that made him look at things more clearly. His mind was so caught up with violence; he had forgotten what a normal life back in Los Angeles would have been like.
In the end, he has made it through.He made his way back home after days of hot weather, starving, working around the clock. He finishes that tough journey. This book made me learn a lot by his experiences. It showed me that whatever you do, you shouldn’t lose yourself as a person.
Your identity. The book made much sense and though the writing I thought was a little raw, it was however, very straight forward. It was structured well, though it was mainly flashback content, he still had memory of each and every detail. What he said, whom he met and what he saw. It was realistic and overall, a great book.
