A Private War: Marie Colvin and Other Tales of Heroes, Scoundrels, and Renegades

by Marie Brenner

Now a major motion picture starring Rosamund Pike, Stanley Tucci, and Jamie Dornan, A Private War is the story of legendary war correspondent Marie Colvin, who died in 2012 while covering the Syrian civil war.

In February 2012, Marie Colvin crossed into Syria on the back of a motorcycle. A veteran war correspondent known for her fearlessness, outspokenness, and signature eye patch, she was defying a government decree preventing journalists from entering the country. Accompanied by photographer Paul Conroy, she was determined to report on the Syrian civil war, adding to a long list of conflicts she had covered, including those in Egypt, Chechnya, Kosovo, and Libya. She had witnessed grenade attacks, saved more than one thousand women and children in an East Timor war zone when she refused to stop reporting until they were evacuated, and even interviewed Muammar Qaddafi. But she had no idea that the story she was looking for in Syria would be her last, culminating in the explosion of an improvised device that sent shock waves across the world.

In A Private War , Marie Brenner brilliantly chronicles the last days and hours of Colvin’s life, moment by moment, to share the story of a remarkable life lived on the front lines. This collection also includes Brenner’s classic encounters with Donald Trump, Roy Cohn, Malala Yousafzai, Richard Jewell, and others.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Journalism, History, War, Historical, Politics

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 23, 2018

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

From imdb:
In a world where journalism is under attack, Marie Colvin (Rosamund Pike) is one of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time. Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless, while constantly testing the limits between bravery and bravado. After being hit by a grenade in Sri Lanka, she wears a distinctive eye patch and is still as comfortable sipping martinis with London's elite as she is confronting dictators. Colvin sacrifices loving relationships, and over time, her personal life starts to unravel as the trauma she's witnessed takes its toll. Yet, her mission to show the true cost of war leads her -- along with renowned war photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan) -- to embark on the most dangerous assignment of their lives in the besieged Syrian city of Homs.

[Care · Rating 2 out of 5]

The chapters on Marie Colvin and Malala Yousafzai were fascinating but to be honest, I skimmed the rest. Would recommend sampling this unless you truly are interested in every chapter's subject.

[Mboconnor31 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marie Brenner is a smart dynamic woman. Last month, my sister and I went to hear her speak at an intimate setting, Half King’s Pub in NYC, which is part owned by Sebastian Unger (a la The Perfect Storm et al) and which has Monday lectures and readings by contemporary journalists and authors. I really enjoyed her presentation and found her articulate and likable, mesmerizing.

This book, a collection of Brenner’s articles over the years published in Vanity Fair, is excellent. The piece on Marie Colvin should be followed up by Lindsey Hilsum’s book on Colvin and the two pieces on Trump are priceless. I had read Malala’s memoirs and I found the piece on Wigand, the tobacco industry whistleblower particularly fascinating.

Off to see the movie, A Private War!

[Riah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first story about Marie Colvin, and enjoyed the perspective on Malala, but none of the rest really seemed to have the oompf I craved (and how it started)

[Ron Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of some of her best magazine articles, including profiles of the late war correspondent Marie Colvin, Richard Jewell who was falsely accused of being the Olympic Park bomber, Big Tobacco whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand, young Pakistani dissident Malala, Donald Trump and his original fixer Roy Cohn.

The Donald Trump stuff is especially interesting. She was one of the first journalists to call him out on his bullshit. He responded by being petty and pouring a glass of wine on her.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bought this book on a whim (I had seen the trailer for the movie and knew I wanted to see it). I didn't realize that the book was multiple articles. I read "Marie Colvin's Private War", "The Target" and part of "After the Gold Rush". I really enjoyed these two articles, but was not very interested in the other pieces.

[Lauren Beveridge · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit misleading as I thought the majority of the book would be about Marie Colvin as that is the front cover and 90% of the blurb on the back but the part about her was only a small section at the front of the book. The other parts weren't as interesting. The part about Marie Colvin was good though.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was interested to read about Marie Colvin and Richard Jewell -not so much the other stories. Unfortunately these two weren't given much space in the book and I really didn't like Marie Brenner's writing style even though I'm aware she's a journalist of some note.

[sh · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a huge fan of the late Marie Colvin, I blindly bought this book without realizing her story only covered 1/8 of the book. Whatever. So yeah that’s the spoiler.

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book and I will give it a star for Marie Brenner's brilliant writing. The title and synopsis however are misleading. At the very end of the back cover, a single sentence states, "This collection also includes Brenner's classic encounters with Donald Trump, Roy Cohn, Malala Yousafzai, Richard Jewell, and others." This is your only clue that you are not about to read a book about Marie Colvin, despite the preceding 6 sentences promising exactly that. Of the 336 pages in the book, only 31 deal with Marie Colvin. If you're like me, expecting more Colvin in a book with her name and an endorsement for the "major motion picture" of her life story on the cover, you might find yourself thinking "that's it?". Those pages are sandwiched between Brenner talking about herself and then hundreds of pages of her own (albeit fantastic) work. The 31 pages of Colvin we do get are frantic, disjointed, hard to follow; perhaps in this way they perfectly represent the chaotic life and death of Marie Colvin. It still makes for incredibly difficult reading. Lots of jumping around between timelines and countries and wars, with the only continuity being Colvin's passion for telling war stories and her alcoholism. Lots of material (she had a fascinating life) shoved into just 31 confused pages. It's challenging to get any sort of real picture of Marie Colvin, which is what I personally was hoping for when I started the book. Reads like the mutant love child of a book and a eulogy, far too short to be the one and much too long to be the other. It's hard to tell if Brenner's strange tribute to Marie Colvin was just a ploy to sell more books, or if this book is a long salute to journalism and the section about Colvin is just an inspiring intro. Either way, the marketing of the book (a story about Marie Colvin) and the reality of the book (stories by Marie Brenner about various individuals who are not Marie Colvin) were too different to leave me feeling anything but tricked and confused.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for the article about Marie Colvin, which did not disappoint. But Marie Brenner's other pieces are just as worthy. I suggest 'The Gold Rush', first published in 1990. It's about Donald Trump and his first wife Ivanna. This article should have been widely read prior to the Presidential election as a warning to voters on what they were getting in Trump. Also recommend the piece on Richard Jewel (first published in 1997). After reading, do some internet research on what happened to many of the players (including Jewel). It was a tragic story for many people.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a non-fiction book. When I first picked up this book I thought it was about Marie Colvin and the movie they made (A Private War) about her story. Unfortunately the book has only one chapter on her. There are chapters about other people, two on Donald Trump, one on Malala, on Richard Jewel, on DeRothchild, and on a few other people that I could care less. I was a bit disappointed that the title and the cover of the book was misleading.

[Trupti Dorge · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was such a chore to read. I had so many problems with it.

1. It's marketed as being a book on the war journalist Marie Colvin (from the cover, the title, and the description) but the story about Marie Colvin is only a few pages. It's purposefully deceptive.
2. The writing is very choppy. There is no rhyme or reason to the way the events are sequenced in a single story.
3. Even though Marie Colvin's life and work are interesting, her story was still difficult to read because of the writing and the structure.
4. In the Trump chapter, a lot of what she says is 'hearsay'.
5. The only interesting chapter was about Malala Yousafzai but even that is outdated now, considering she wrote her own book.

I get angry whenever I see this book because I had a lot of expectations and it fell short on every account.

[kristen irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marie Brenner’s book covers a multitude of stories going back as far as the 1950’s. The stories weave together suspenseful and sometimes shocking tales of the inner workings and power struggles in America. For the most part each section is left open ended without any real sense of an ending... which i love. We are left to speculate the real message of each story and how each is interconnected.

[a.t.m. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very contemporary book on people making today’s news

The author has painstakingly researched all of the lives of the people that she has written about. The details are an art form in and of themselves as each character has a story that is worth sharing. I couldn’t put the book down. I highly recommend this piece of work that in my opinion is best seller material.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Private War is about war correspondent Marie Colvin. It is the basis for the 2018 film A Private War. I recently watched the film and felt compelled to read the article on which it was based. Marie Colvin was a badass reporter and a larger than life character.

[Ashley Sigmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of literary journalism from the 1980s to 2017 by Marie Brenner. Her pieces on Marie Colvin but also Malala Yousafzai, Donald Trump, and Roy Cohn are fascinating. Recommended.

[Dung · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a few chapters that stood out but majority of the book didn’t capture my attention. It was more about the story covered versus the journalist and her experience covering the story.

[Sebastian Song · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely compilation of Marie's amazing investigative journalism. Unfortunately there was no update on where the main authors are. A real pity.

[Robin N · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiring tale of an incredible woman. I could read it again and again.

[Colleen Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiring life of a war reporter

[Sarah McConahy · Rating 2 out of 5]

So the essay about Marie Colvin was excellent, as was the one about Malala Yousafzai. If only the whole book had been about these two women.

[Mairead · Rating 2 out of 5]

Varied

[Carys Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just couldn’t get into this as I found myself trying to force myself to read it

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s really pushed as about Marie Colvin, but it’s a series of essays about “famous people” from the last 30 ish years. And interesting read.

[Haley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wholeheartedly agree with the GoodReader who suggested reading the Colvin and Malala chapters and skimming the rest.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gift from Jilla

[Ruby Jusoh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an impactful book but I find the writing to be quite confusing. The articles are great, though, and very important.

[Seb Swann · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like stories about interesting people; Brenner’s collection makes you appreciate the bravery, courage, and perseverance of some and the immorality, corruption, and indecency of others. These profiles, of both the famous and the lesser known, remind us of the impact our actions can have on the world.