No Ordinary Assignment

A Memoir

De: Jane Ferguson

Narrado por: Jane Ferguson

""A haunting memoir of disarming honesty. . . a remarkable testament to the anguish and the beauty of foreign correspondence.”—Roger Cohen, New York Times Paris bureau chief and author of An Affirming Flame

From award-winning journalist Jane Ferguson, an unflinching memoir of ambition and war—from The Troubles to the fall of Kabul.

Jane Ferguson has covered nearly every war front and humanitarian crisis of our time. She reported from Yemen as protests grew into the Arab Spring; she secured rare access to rebel-held Syria, where foreign journalists were banned, to cover its civil war. When the Taliban claimed Kabul in 2021, she was one of the last Western journalists to remain at the airport as thousands of Afghans, including some of her colleagues, struggled to evacuate.

Living with sectarian violence was nothing new to Ferguson. As a child in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and ‘90s, The Troubles meant bomb threats and military checkpoints on the way to school were commonplace. Books by Dervla Murphy and Martha Gellhorn offered solace from her turbulent family, and an opportunity to study Arabic in Yemen came as a relief—and a ticket to the life in journalism she imagined.

Without family wealth or connections, she began as a scrappy one-woman reporting team, a borrowed camera often her only equipment. Networks told her she had the wrong accent, the wrong appearance, not enough “bang-bang shoot-‘em-up.” Still, Ferguson threw herself into harm’s way time and again, determined to give voice to civilian experiences of war. In the face of grave violence and suffering, this seemed a small act of justice, no matter the risks.

Ferguson’s bold debut chronicles her unlikely journey from bright, inquisitive child to intrepid war correspondent. With an open-hearted humanity we rarely see in conflict stories, No Ordinary Assignment shows what it means to build an authentic career against the odds.

©2023 Jane Ferguson (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

True life can be exciting too!

I chose to listen to this book, because I have been fascinated by Jane Ferguson‘s reporting on PBS for years now. Her book records and explains her life, her assignments, her romance, all in a way that is fascinating and intriguing. She explains why she does what she does and why her life has been fulfilling as a result.

The book is exciting to listen to, in that Jane has the talent for painting the setting in a few words and moving the story along, just as if the reader was in the scene.

True grit & passion

Amazing in its scope across so many tragic war zones. The intersection of Jane’s personal life with countless local citizens coping with horrific events weaves a fascinating tale.

You must listen to this

Never has a memoir had the emotional impact that this did. I cried as I listened to stories of the pain that war inflicts on civilians. I’m telling all my friends to read this. Thank you Jane!!

why do this?

At the very beginning our author tells us why she became a war reporter. But the depth of the book, talking about the people, not the war is what drew me in and what makes this book great.

Peek inside the world of correspondents

Enlightening. She was a favorite correspondent on PBS for me. Learning how her world developed around her creating a brilliant gift of humanity which translated into reporting the facts and insights to us. Interesting, greatly appreciated and valued.

Jane Ferguson, war reporter, courage, compassion and commitment

a story needing to be told. hearing Jane narrate her own story was significant.

Gripping Journalism and powerful anti-war story.

The humanity, fact-based approach, and caring make this not only a gripping publication, but also a first rate example of a telling anti-war story. I have recommended it to several friends and am sure they will also find it to be a compelling and important work. Thanks to Jane Ferguson for your continued efforts to tell these important stories.

Her dedication to her work.

I liked her building of a career and her caring of the safety for those helping her for security.

Answers the question beautifully

Having watched her work on PBS, I wanted to understand why she took such huge personal risks in her dangerous assignments. She answers that question deeply throughout the book. She is an extraordinary person and deserves a lot of respect. Hearing her story told in her own voice opened my eyes to the beauty and humanity of places that have just seemed like chaos and hell from the safety of my American life. It’s bizarre to me that she felt not beautiful enough. I had assumed the opposite, that her beauty was dangerous and probably used against her in the patriarchal Islamic world. Definitely worth reading!

An Extraordinary Life, Well Told

Listening to Jane Ferguson describe her journey from Ireland to Princeton to Yemen, Beruit, Afghanistan and Manhattan was enhanced by her often magical voice which is capable of expressing complex emotions that would be less evident if seeing and reading her words. While her writing style is dramatic and often stirring, she is, after all, a broadcast journalist whose job it is to tell war stories while speaking into a camera's lens. Her voice is often remarkable.

From an early age, Ferguson hopes to become a correspondent covering international conflicts far and wide, and she is strikingly honest about her doubts, her fears, her anxieties and the many obstacles that stood between her and her goals. It is a good listen. But much of the book is about the conflicts, themselves, and the often untold stories of the human side of war, as networks seem intent on covering the "bang bang" and "book boom" of the actual fighting while neglecting the pain and suffering of civilians like the millions she saw starving in Yemen at a time when journalists were not allowed to visit. Early on she made a point of gaining access to places and events where journalists were not allowed to visit. This was often at great risk.

I appreciated the earnest soul-searching she speaks about, wondering if her stories will actually change policies and save lives. She keeps on keeping on, eventually winning awards and many honors, but my favorite part of her memoir was the ending when she tells of saving folks she knew in Kabul who were desperate to fly away from the murderous Taliban in the last few days before all western forces withdrew. She tells this part in a matter-of-fact, humble manner, but it is no ordinary assignment!