The debut work by a war correspondent and Czech Television reporter in the Middle East.
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Jakub Szántó offers a detailed insider’s account of his experiences as a war correspondent in various corners of the Earth and different types of military conflicts and revolutions. He is professionally dedicated to his work, but he recalls his experiences in a personal rather than objective way. The dramas of front lines, child and juvenile soldiers, famine, destitution and the pain of war or revolution are presented vividly by an eyewitness who spent 20 years of his life experiencing them. The book is valuable not only as a personal testimony but also as a glimpse into the work of a war correspondent, a journalist in situations it is impossible to prepare for. As a history graduate Szántó is also able to set the events he has observed and experienced in the historical context. The tragedy of the events related is softened by humour and irony. The book includes an extensive section of the author’s photographs from the field.
Jakub Szántó (1977) is a journalist and television reporter. He graduated in modern history from the Institute of International Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague, and also studied at the Central European University in Budapest. Since 1999 he has worked as a television reporter. In 2005 he was awarded the title PhDr. in Modern History at Charles University. He reported on foreign news for TV Nova and since 2006 has worked for Czech Television. Since July 2013 he has been Czech Television’s permanent Middle East correspondent. Over the long term he has focused on the region of the Middle East and Africa, where he has covered a large proportion of international crises; prior to that he also covered the Chechen War, the Georgian-Russian War, piracy in Somalia and the revolution in Ukraine. Between 2003 and 2016 he regularly contributed to the weekly magazine Reflex. Szántó is the holder of the 2014 Open Society Fund Prague’s Journalism Award and the 2017 Ferdinand Peroutka Award for journalism.