The Age of the Warrior: Selected Essays by Robert Fisk
Fisk’s passionate coverage of the Middle East for London’s Independent has earned him a global following; unhesitant to blame the powerful for the region’s many injustices, his columns have also drawn intense flak (and, in the blogosphere, caused his last name to be used as a verb). This selection collects about 115 of Fisk’s weekly columns, most penned since 9/11. Many, if not all, of these columns are archived and available for free online, but when bound together in a book and organized by theme and not chronology, they provide unique insight into Fisk himself as well as the historic tumult that is his beat. Each column is, of course, imbued with Fisk’s characteristic urgency; many, especially those dealing with the war in Iraq, seethe with exasperation. There are some delightfully barbed movie reviews. But this gathering’s most compelling moments may be when Fisk steps back to grapple wistfully with the cumulative effects of being a 30-year witness to unrelenting violence. And a few moments, in which he aches for the loss of close friends, are downright haunting. --Brendan Driscoll