num_pages: 230
description: Joe Frazier, a longtime veteran of The Associated Press, covered the bloody civil war in El Salvador from 1979-1986. He draws from his vast trove of articles written from the frontlines, interspersing the reporting of facts with personal stories—some funny, some tragic. Broad in its sweep, focused on the daily lives of the war's victims, Frazier's book is an important contribution to to remembering the lessons and recording the history of this mostly forgotten conflict. From the author's dedication: "The wars that brought us together are forgotten now. So are the lessons they should have taught us. This book is a reminder of both."Praise from Fellow Journalists for Joseph Frazier's Memoir:“Puts the reader on the ground as a witness to the unfolding of a civil war, and provides the political and historical background that surfaces the underlying factors that led to the conflict. It is both a memoir and a cautionary tale of the true costs of war as seen from the ground and in the lives of Salvadorans. Frazier evokes the sounds, sights and feelings of wartime El Salvador. Read for its compelling narrative, for its previously untold history of a war, and to support the role of on the ground journalism in our collective understanding of the world.” —Juanita Darling, Ph.D., assistant professor of International Relations at San Francisco State University, veteran Latin American correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.“This is so much more than the best journalistic account of the war that enveloped El Salvador in the 1980s. It is an exciting, fast-paced adventure story; an insightful analysis of the way nations break apart; a disturbing look at the war correspondent’s life; and above all, a poignant, deeply personal story about a great reporter’s efforts to come to terms with what he has seen and experienced.” —Stephen Kinzer, International Relations, Boston University, award-winning New York Times foreign correspondent, author of Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua and other titles.“Joseph Frazier’s book brings all his expertise, compassion and flair to the deeply compelling story of that hidden war which cost 75,000 lives. His eye is extraordinary. He sees through the fog and disinformation of both sides, sees the war’s political complexity, and makes us feel its human cost. And he gets its ironies—Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller are somewhere smiling upon this account.” —Journalist and filmmaker Mary Jo McConahay, author of National Geographic Book of the Month, Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest.====[Adapted from the author's introduction]I covered El Salvador from 1979-1986, the worst of the war years, for The Associated Press. In addition to wartime coverage, I visited several times later for the AP, and after retirement took solo road trips down from Oregon in 2009 and 2011.My memoir is a ground's-eye view of the El Salvador war and of what it did to the peasants, the soldiers, the school kids, the union leaders, the shopkeepers, the fishermen and artisans, the parish priests - the everyday, unremarkable people who often wound up in unmarked graves and on the edit-room floor. It is also a look at the politics and economics and social history that underpinned the conflict. I believe the journalists I worked with there in those years were among the finest anywhere. Too many of them died trying to get the story out.
language: English
title: El Salvador Could Be Like That
publisher: Karina Library Press