Marie Colvin, described by her peers as “the greatest war correspondent of her generation,” was killed in a rocket attack in February 2012 while reporting on the desperate suffering of civilians inside Syria’s besieged Homs. Under the Wire is war photographer Paul Conroy’s gripping, visceral, and moving account of his friendship with Marie and in particular the final year he spent working alongside her. When Marie and Paul were smuggled into Syria by rebel forces, they found themselves trapped in one of the most hellish neighborhoods on earth. Marie was tragically killed by a rocket that also blew a hole in Paul’s thigh big enough for him to put his hand through. Bleeding profusely, short of food and water and in excruciating pain, Paul then endured five days of intense bombardment before being evacuated in a daring escape involving a motorbike ride through a tunnel, crawling through enemy terrain and, finally, climbing a 10-foot-high wall. Astonishingly vivid, heart-stoppingly dramatic, and shot through with dark humor, Under the Wire shows what it means to be a war reporter in the 21st century. Paul Conroy’s is a story of two people drawn together by a shared compulsion to bear witness.
“[A] fine and gripping account of how the brave, rackety band of war reporters and photographers bring the human consequences of war to our breakfast tables.” —Stephen Robinson, The Sunday Times, London
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