Absurdistan

by Eric Campbell

Eric Campbel is a foreign correspondent for the ABC. He started out as TV presenter for travel shows promoting places around Australia. But he then found that absolutely boring and wanted to do reporting that actually mattered. So he applied relentlessly to be an international journalist. He finally got his break. This book is about a section of Eric Campbell's life as a foreign correspondent spanning 7 years. These included his time in Russia, war torn regions of Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, China and also Iraq.

This book has a different tone that Sebastian Junger's writing. Well, I do not know what makes good journalistic writing. But both their styles are different. Junger's style is more immediate and direct. Eric Campbell is more modulated, so you may not get the full emotional impact. But as a collective, Campbell's writing really highlights the absurdity of what goes on in this country by his quiet honesty and fairness of describing the situation. In all his lack of melodrama, you get the full impact of what he is saying. As if speaking to genocidal leaders is what he does before breakfast. And Campell just takes it all in stride and reports. Amazing person and an amazing time. A really absurd real life story.