Naked in Baghdad

The Iraq War as Seen by National Public Radio's Correspondent

By: Anne Garrels

Narrated by: Anne Garrels

Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

As National Public Radio's senior foreign correspondent, Anne Garrels has covered conflicts in Chechnya, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. She is renowned for direct, down-to-earth, insightful reportage, and for her independent take on what she sees. One of only sixteen unembedded American journalists who stayed in Baghdad's now-legendary Palestine Hotel throughout the American invasion of Iraq, she was at the very center of the storm. Naked in Baghdad gives us the sights, sounds, and smells of our latest war with unparalleled vividness and immediacy. Garrels's narrative starts with several trips she made to Baghdad before the war, beginning in October 2002. At its heart is her evolving relationship with her Iraqi driver/minder, Amer, who becomes her friend and confidant, often serving as her eyes and ears among the populace and taking her where no other reporter was able to penetrate. Amer's own strong reactions and personal dilemma provide a trenchant counterpoint to daily events. The story is also punctuated by e-mail bulletins sent by Garrels's husband, Vint Lawrence, to their friends around the world, giving a private view of the rough-and-tumble, often dangerous life of a foreign correspondent, along with some much-needed comic relief.

The result is enthralling, deeply personal, utterly authentic: an on-the-ground picture of the war in Iraq that no one else could have written. As Chicago Sun-Times critic Lloyd Sachs wrote about Garrels's work in Baghdad, "A few choice words, honestly delivered, are worth more than a thousand pictures...In your mind's eye, they carry lasting truth."

©2003 Anne Garrels (P)2003 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

• 2004 Audie Award Winner, Narration by Author or Authors

How insightful

Not only does Anne Garrels give a marvelous insight as to what it takes to be a first rate reporter in a most dangerous territory (and where one doesn't speak the language), but she also really lays the foundation of understanding why we are not and cannot succeed in Iraq. Ms. Garrels has put together a marvelous diary that really flows and keeps one's interest throughout. I truly hope that it will be widely read, for it unintentionally proves that our failure in Iraq is not only the intelligence organizations' shortcomings, but a lack of basic understandings of the culture of the people of Iraq. Or is it the intentional disregard thereof by the administration? If Ms Garrels can ferret out from the man on the street in a short period of time under difficult circumstances the basic and broad-based distrust of Americans, why could our people in charge not read the same tea leaves? Regardless as to the ultimate outcome of Iraq, this book is rewarding reading (or listening on Audible) and reminds me of the "Music Man" line "...but he doesn't know the territory."

Great Read

Anne Garrels paints an eerie picture that gives great insight into the Iraq war. It is informative, exciting, and at times funny. I thought this book might be a bit dull, but it really holds your attention. Read it!

An incredable find!

A great story that I could hardly turn off. I am a fan of NPR and Ann with her incredable story telling ability brings the time and place alive. Too bad our government leaders could not hear what Ann was hearing on the streets of Baghdad.

Listen to the silences....

I read a review (elsewhere) that chided Anne Garrels for reporting on ?local color?, it is that local color that helps to paint the picture of the Iraq that we find ourselves struggling with today. The people she met, the stories they told, the future they predicted, all came together to help me, a true non-student of politics, understand the situation a bit better.

I?d love a follow-up done sometime ? what has happened to some of the people she knew in the year or so since she left Baghdad? What else do we need to hear from Iraq?s people? not the militants, but the true, proud, Iraqi people who deeply want the future they dared dream of?

The story says much ? both in what has been written, as well as by what was not said. This is not a review of American policy, but a glimpse into the Iraq of late 2002 and early 2003.

As a long-time listener of NPR, I ?knew? many of the players of whom Ms Garrels spoke. I felt as though I was worrying about friends? friends that I had listened to during the days leading up to the war, and through those tumultuous early days after the fall of Baghdad. This book gave me the other side of the story ? and told me what it took to get the story. The picture is more complete now ? although I suspect it will never have all of the spaces filled in.

The audio version was outstanding. The narration by the author moved with the story, leading me to think that she was, perhaps, envisioning the events again as they unfolded. It felt very much ?present tense?. The e-mails from Vint Lawrence added a break and contrast, and truly enhanced the tale.

In many ways, this book is a set of love stories ? a husband and a wife, a journalist and her profession, a man and his country? and they are all deeply, and inexplicably, intertwined.

Thank you all, for sharing your stories with me.

A Different Perspective...

As an Army officer who was in Baghdad six months after this book took place, I recognized a lot of the places she was talking about (the hotel she was in was across the Tigris from my post) and understood some of the situations she encountered. This book was a different look at the same world I was in, and my husband (who was also in Baghdad) and I really enjoyed listening to it. It was interesting to see what life was like in Baghdad before the occupation, and what the initial battles were like from the journalist's point of view. Her husband's emails were very eloquent; I almost looked forward to them as much as the rest of the story! An interesting look at Baghdad before, during, and after the American troops arrived.

Gripping

A tribute to the profound depth of this wonderful book is the fact that I have pondered it so much so often since I completed it. What a beautiful weave of facts, adventure, history, suspense and heart. The author is clearly a person of great compassion and enviable bravery. I felt this tremendous sense of loss when I completed this book. I wanted more! I wanted to know what happened to the various characters to whom the author so wonderfully made me feel a deep sense of connection.

Excellent insight

As an Army officer who has many friends serving in Baghdad, this book gave me a fresh perspective. I only hope that Ms. Garrells will write another follow-on book. I felt like I was listening to an NPR special coverage story...it was literally one of those "driveway" stories. I could barely put my iPod down once I started it.

Garrels Delivers.

A gripping, incredible listen from NPR's correspondent Garrels who effectively evokes the day-to-day events leading up to the United States attack on Iraq. Through the struggles of bribing Iraqi Security Officials, negotiating the streets of Baghdad with her efficient guide Amir, and the daily routines of life in a cooped up hotel with rapidly deteriorating service, electricity, and safety, Garrels' account is astonishing for its honesty and its depth. Her tiny radio station, NPR, not seen as a threat to the Iraqi Ministries as much as CNN or the major networks, managed to scoop all of them and provide the clearest picture I've seen (heard) of the murky events in the spring of 2003, events that have still not reached a conclusion.

All in all, I don't know what to make of the American invasion of Iraq. Garrels doesn't sugarcoat it, nor does she easily come down on a clear side--pointing out the relief of Iraqis in the post-Saddam era, along with the viable frustration of a lack of a clear American policy to curtail the looting, destroyed power and water lines, and leadership void.

The only thing I didn't like was the "Brenda Bulletins" from Garrels' husband Vint, which are interspersed throughout the story. I found myself avidly waiting to get back to Garrels' account.

Must Read!!!!!!

I have to say that this is a truly amazing book. One of the best I have read about the war.
It is a tale in wish the reader will live the fear, hope happiness, rage, love, of a human being surviving and inhuman situation. This is far from a documentary, but an amazing narrative that will capture the imagination of readers for a long time to come?.
A must read?

enjoyable but overrated

I enjoyed this book but think that the average rating given here is high, mainly because it starts off a bit slowly and I didn't come away feeling that I knew the author. I enjoyed the snippets from previous "wars" but also found that there was a bit of repetition.
On the whole I did enjoy this book and would recommend it.