Synopses & Reviews
In the early hours of New Year's 1994, Russian troops invaded the Republic of Chechnya, plunging the country into a prolonged and bloody conflict that continues to this day. A foreign correspondent in Moscow at the time, Åsne Seierstad traveled regularly to Chechnya to report on the war, describing its affects on those trying to live their daily lives amidst violence.
In the following decade, Seierstad became an internationally renowned reporter and author, traveling to the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other war-torn regions. But she never lost sight of this conflict that had initially inspired her career. Over the course of a decade, she watched as Russia ruthlessly suppressed an Islamic rebellion in two bloody wars and as Chechnya evolved into one of the flashpoints in a world now focused on the threat of international terrorism.
In 2006, Seierstad finally returned to Chechnya, traveling in secret and under the constant threat of danger. In a broken and devastated society she lived with orphans, the wounded, the lost. And she lived with the children of Grozny, those who will shape the country's future. She asks the question: What happens to a child who grows up surrounded by war and accustomed to violence?
A compelling, intimate, and often heartbreaking portrait of Chechnya today, The Angel of Grozny is a vivid account of a land's violent history and its ongoing battle for freedom.
Review
"Seierstad reveals how knowing nothing but anger, poverty, and conflict can damage the psyche of a child and how a mother's love is sometimes enough to change a life but sometimes is not." Library Journal
Review
"A sympathetic, brave work from a deeply engaged war correspondent." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Powerful, painful, and raw, Seierstad's latest is essential reading." Booklist
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"Seierstad has produced a masterly and much needed call to attention for the international community." New York Times
Review
"Seierstad has not written an anti-Russian book. She does, however, offer readers chilling views of the effects of conflict and upheaval on life in Chechnya." Christian Science Monitor
Review
"Readers who were captivated by her previous bestsellers...will find here a journey equally compelling in its humanity and astonishing descriptive power. It's well worth the trip." Minneapolis Star Tribune
Synopsis
International bestselling journalist and author Seierstad returns from her most harrowing and dangerous journey yet this time into the rarely glimpsed, strife-torn region of Chechnya.
About the Author
Åsne Seierstad is an award-winning journalist who has reported from such wartorn regions as Chechnya, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq. She is the author of A Hundred and One Days as well as The Bookseller of Kabul, an international bestseller that has been translated into thirty-eight languages. Seierstad makes her home in Norway and travels frequently to the United States.