Road Work: Among Tyrants, Heroes, Rogues, and Beasts

By Mark Bowden

Book Overview

Over two decades, Mark Bowden, author of the #1 New York Times best seller Black Hawk Down and the critically acclaimed Killing Pablo, has solidified his reputation as a "master of narrative journalism" (The New York Times Book Review). An incisive reporter and gripping, evocative writer, Bowden is capable of putting us in the heat of a story in a way few others can. Now Road Work offers the best of Bowden's award-winning nonfiction, from his breakout stories for The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he was a reporter for twenty-four years, to his highly talked-about pieces in The Atlantic on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Whether traveling to a small town in Rhode Island where one of the larges cocaine rings in history is uncovered, or to the Luangwa Valley in Zambia where a bold team of antipoachers fights to save the fate of the black rhino, Mark Bowden takes us down rough roads previously off-limits. "The Dark Art of Interrogation" exposes the top-secret world of Guantanamo Bay, offering an insider's view of the controversial, often shocking ways America is fighting its war on terror. "Tales of a Tyrant" takes us into the world of Saddam Hussein, shedding new and dramatic light on his life, his reign of terror, and his days on the run. "The Kabul-Ki Dance" brings us the high-adrenaline world of the 391st Fighter Squadron of Idaho as it wages the air war over Afghanistan and shows what happens when raw emotion goes up against the clinical precision of modern war. Whether they are everyday people, mad scientists, or celebrities such as Al Sharpton and Norman Mailer, Road Work invites us into the private and public lives of unique, fascinating Americans. "The Game of a Lifetime" and "The Great Potato Pick-Off Play," in which a struggling minor leaguer dreams up a bizarre and hilarious on-field prank, display the uniquely humanistic brand of sports reporting that won acclaim for Bowden's seminal football book Bringing the Heat. And "Cops on the Take" gives us the intelligent and riveting true-crime writing that the Tucson Citizen has described as "true reporting at its very best," telling - in trademark novelistic detail - the incredible story of a group of high-ranking officers who turned the police department of a major city into a profit-making criminal enterprise. Powerfully gripping, elucidating, sometimes even wryly humorous, Road Work shows why Mark Bowden has won a reputation as a nonfiction writer of the very highest caliber. Book jacket.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 087113876X
• ISBN13: 9780871138767
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Length: 467 Pages
• Weight: 1.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

great compilation of his newspaper work

If you like Mark Bowden you'll enjoy this book. Maybe not love it but enjoy it. He started as a sport writer so many of the included subjects are naturally about sports. Since I lost interest in sports a long time ago those arent too interesting to me but still well written. I'd get his other books first and make this your last choice for a Bowden "fix".

Great writer

Mark Bowden has a knack of putting you in the middle of the action. At times it feels like you are actually there in that part of history experiencing everything that all the personnel are going through. He gives you all aspects of the experience from both the good and bad guys perspective.

Heavily recommended

Due to the fact it is a collection of pieces on various subjects, it is difficult to characterize. Nevertheless, it is heavily rcommended, simply due to the author. As far as I'm concerned, Mark Bowden is one of the greatest living journalists. Good writing that's generally free from ideology, and filled with blunt honesty.

Fantastic...

I love these anthology works -- it sure beats hunting down all the pieces online or whatever. The range of subjects is impressive. Saddam... bombing taliban... corrupt cops on the take... Ok... let me confess -- I didn't read every single story in the book. (Sports, not really my thing.) That aside, this book is rad.

Masterful storytelling.

Mark Bowden is an anachronism, a throwback to the glories of earlier decades when skilled writers used magazine pages to tell real stories. How different from the infotainment and self-aggrandizing puff-pieces so common today. Bowden's stories were originally written for The Philadelphia Inquirer magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone and others. His subjects are as diverse as the "Dark Art Of Interrogation" to a study of Norman Mailer, nineteens stories in all and every one fascinating. A wonderful excursion through the eyes of a man who can not only see, but can write as well. Jerry