It's What I Do

A Photographer's Life of Love and War

By: Lynsey Addario

Narrated by: Lynsey Addario

The New York Times bestselling memoir by Pulitzer Prize-winning war photojournalist Lynsey Addario

"Beautifully written and vividly illustrated . . . Addario is an artist of empathy, a witness not to grand ideas about human sacrifice and suffering, but to human beings, simply being." —The Boston Globe

"An unflinching memoir." —The Washington Post

A young photojournalist just finding her way, Lynsey Addario is sent to Afghanistan after the attacks of September 11. As she documents the complex lives of the Afghan people, both under Taliban rule and after the U.S. invasion, Addario finds her calling as a war photographer — a calling that will lead her into virtually every major theater of war in the twenty-first century. She photographs the civilian casualties and misunderstood insurgents of the Iraq War, as well as the burned villages and countless dead in Darfur. She exposes a culture of violence against women in the Congo and gets kidnapped by pro-Qaddafi forces in the Libyan civil war.

This relentless pursuit of truth shapes Addario's life. As a woman photojournalist, she fights her way into a boys' club of a profession. Rather than choose between her personal life and her career, Addario learns to strike a necessary balance. In the man who will become her husband, she finds at last a real love to complement her work, not take away from it, and as a new mother, she gains an all-the-more intensely personal understanding of the fragility of life.

Watching uprisings unfold and people fight to the death for their freedom, Addario understands she is documenting not only news but also the fate of societies. It’s What I Do is more than just a snapshot of life on the front lines; it is witness to the human cost of war.

visceral and honest

likely the closest I'll ever get to war. thank you Lynsey for your passion and commitment to showing us the reality of war.

Thank You

It is striking how many choices were made in her early 20s that set her up for a life well lived. Thank you for sharing your story!

I think I cried four times

I think I cried three or four different times reading "It's What I Do".
Lynsey Addario's experiences as a war photographer in life and love trying to balance the need to show the world the horrors of warfare while shielding herself from those same realities was at times almost unbearable, but it is beautifully written and so artfully composed. Definitely worth the read. 📸

Truly inspiring

This is one of the best books I've ever "read". I am definitely going to buy a hard copy of it because I would love to reread it one day. The audiobook is wonderful, narrated by the author and you can experience each moment fully as you listen to the emotion in her voice. It does justice to the sacrifices war journalists and photographers have to make, while also giving raw and objective insight into being a woman in a dangerous, male dominated environment. Wholeheartedly recommend this book - in any form!

What we want to hear about

Not only is her voice mellifluous - but there’s everything in there to keep you thinking, wanting more and deeply entertained.