Janine di Giovanni is a senior foreign correspondent for The Times of London and a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. She is the recipient of a 2000 National Magazine Award for her reporting from the Balkans, two Amnesty International awards for war reporting from Sierra Leone and Kosovo, and Granada Television's Foreign Correspondent of the Year award for being one of the few reporters to witness the fall of Grozny, Chechnya. She has been the focus of an award-winning documentary about women war correspondents, No Man's Land. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she received an M.F.A. in fiction. She lives in Paris with her husband, the French reporter Bruno Girodon, and their baby son, Luca.
"[An] unforgettable account. . . . Vivid, compassionate prose. . .
. Few writers can match her evocations of individual suffering in
wartime." —Newsweek (International Edition)
“Many journalists have written accounts of the wars of Yugoslav
dissolution. Madness Visible is among the best of them. . . . One
of Giovanni’s strengths is that if she takes sides it is simply the
side of the victim. . . . Succeeds admirably.” –Times Literary
Supplement
“A compelling and meticulous account. . . . The author is at her
very best when she writes about the people. . . . When di Giovanni
speaks of Sarajevo –and she does speak, her voice poignant, grief
admixed with rage and frustration– it is gripping.” –San Francisco
Chronicle
“Compelling reportage at its best: grisly and depressing at times,
of course, but also revealing.” –The Economist
“One of the best books ever written about war.” --The Arizona
Republic
"Moving. . . . Janine di Giovanni is our Virgil, guiding us through
the circles of that man-made hell: Sarajevo, Kosovo, Pristina. . .
. If you read no other book about the Balkan wars, read this one. "
--Phil Caputo
“[An] important book. . . . There are few outsiders who better
understand what has happened in the Balkans. . . . Madness Visible
is the story of all wars.” --The Guardian (London)
"Di Giovanni connects names and battles as well as peoples who have
a historic distrust of one another. . . . This is di Giovanni's one
war, and she passionately documents its inhumanity." --The New York
Times
“Illuminating. . . . [Her] stream-of-consciousness approach . . .
imbues the book with its quiet but undeniable emotional power. . .
. [Despite the] gloom that pervades each page, these accounts
remain compelling because of Di Giovanni’s resolve to grasp each
individual’s frail sense of hope and shattered human dignity.”
--.San Antonio Express-News
“Remarkable. . . . A powerful, passionate account, and well worth
the waiting for.” --The Times (London)
"Janine di Giovanni has described war in a way that almost makes me
think it never needs to be described again. . . . More than a book
about war, however, this is a book about the human race, in all its
anguishing complexity. I can honestly say that I finished this book
a wiser, more compassionate person than when I started."
--Sebastian Junger
“Powerful. . . . Moving. . . . Full of gripping reportage about the
horrors of life during wartime.” --Newsday
"The veteran reporter has a keen eye for detail and dialogue
[while] . . . delving . . . substantially into the political,
historical and ethnic tensions contributing to the 1992-95 war. . .
. While di Giovanni looks back, however, she is aware that others
do not. . . . Madness Visible reminds us of the folly and shame in
this neglect." --The Washington Post
“Janine di Giovanni is superb--an extraordinarily brave war
correspondent and a wonderful writer as well. What a combination!”
--William Shawcross
"Excellent. . . . Di Giovanni depicts just how unsatisfactory, even
crazy, the 'peace' in Kosovo is. . . . Her descriptive talents are
at their best when her eye comes to rest on the plight of
civilians. . . . Don't read this book for its analysis of Balkan
politics, which you can get elsewhere, but for its very humane
portrait of fighters, refugees and victims." --The Daily Telegraph
(London)
"An embedded journalist before the term was invented. . . . [Di
Giovanni] provides a haunting record of the continuing war in the
Balkans." --Harper's Bazaar
"Powerful. . . . The images are unforgettable and di Giovanni
writes movingly, with no need for embellishment, about . . . the
insanity and irrationality of human behavior. Read this book and
you may begin to understand what war looks and feels like, or even
smells like." --The Spectator
"Chilling. . . . [Di Giovanni's] courage is matched only by her
compassion for her subjects. . . . She is a woman who simply
doesn't know the meaning of the word 'can't' and in her profession
that's a major asset." --The Evening Standard (London)
“Should be read . . . for an understanding of the depravity of
Balkan wars of ethnic cleansing . . . [and for the] insights [it]
offer[s] into the world of war correspondents working at the
razor’s edge of their profession.” --Columbia Journalism Review
"Affecting. . . . Her account reflects both her passionate
engagement with the people and her own sense of deep loss in this
place." --The Hartford Advocate
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