Island of Blood

Frontline Reports From Sri Lanka And Other South Asian Flashpoints. Island Of Blood Is A Distillation Of The Experiences And Insights Of One Of The Finest Journalists India Has Ever Produced. During The Eighties And Nineties When The Indian Media Rarely Ventured Into Flashpoints Like Sri Lanka And Afghanistan Anita Pratap Braved The Odds To Send In Reports From The Front Over And Over Again. War Ethnic Conflict Earthquakes Cyclones And Droughts Wherever There Was A Story To Be Told She Would Track It Down. First In India Then In Sri Lanka Anita Managed To Gain Access To Ltte Chief Pirabhakaran And Her Interviews With Him Made Headlines Around The World. In Afghanistan She Eluded The Taliban Militia To Discover The Frightening Reality Of Women'S Lives Under A Terrifying Fanatical Regime. Wherever She Went Anita Saw And Faithfully Reported The Consequences Of Racial And Historical Prejudice Religious And Sexual Discrimination And Mindless Hatred And Fear. And Each Time She Returned To The Comfort Of Home And Family With A Renewed Determination To Appreciate And Celebrate The Ordinary. From Booklist The author an Indian-born journalist got her big break in 1983 when riots broke out in Sri Lanka between the Sinhalese and Tamil populations and Pratap was assigned to cover the story. There she interviewed V. Pirabhakaran leader of the Tamil faction. Her journalistic relationship with Pirabhakaran and her portrait of this military leader forms the backbone of this book which combines memoir history and reportage. In addition to describing her life as a reporter Pratap also tells us about the places she visited--Sri Lanka and Afghanistan primarily--and the people she met military leaders ordinary men and women police. This is an exciting and inspiring account of a woman who seeks out the hot spots and puts her own life very much at risk to bring stories of oppression prejudice and hatred into the public consciousness. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in the international news media.David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved