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Dirty Wars and Polished Silver: The Life and Times of a War Correspondent Turned Ambassatrix
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

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Published:
Melville House 2017
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Description
From a former Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent, an exuberant memoir of life, love, and transformation on the frontlines of conflicts around the world
Growing up in 1970s Detroit, Lynda Schuster felt certain life was happening elsewhere. And as soon as she graduated from high school, she set out to find it.

Dirty Wars and Polished Silver
is Schuster’s story of her life abroad as a foreign correspondent in war-torn countries, and, later, as the wife of a U.S. Ambassador. It chronicles her time working on a kibbutz in Israel, reporting on uprisings in Central America and a financial crisis in Mexico, dodging rocket fire in Lebanon, and grieving the loss of her first husband, a fellow reporter, who was killed only ten months after their wedding.
But even after her second marriage, to a U.S. diplomat, all the black-tie parties and personal staff and genteel “Ambassatrix School” grooming in the world could not protect her from the violence of war.
Equal parts gripping and charming, Dirty Wars and Polished Silver is a story about one woman’s quest for self-discovery—only to find herself, unexpectedly, more or less back where she started: wiser, saner, more resolved. And with all her limbs intact.
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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
07/18/2017
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781612196350
ASIN:
B01NBDCEGF
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Lynda Schuster. (2017). Dirty Wars and Polished Silver: The Life and Times of a War Correspondent Turned Ambassatrix. Melville House.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Lynda Schuster. 2017. Dirty Wars and Polished Silver: The Life and Times of a War Correspondent Turned Ambassatrix. Melville House.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Lynda Schuster, Dirty Wars and Polished Silver: The Life and Times of a War Correspondent Turned Ambassatrix. Melville House, 2017.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Lynda Schuster. Dirty Wars and Polished Silver: The Life and Times of a War Correspondent Turned Ambassatrix. Melville House, 2017.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 16:04:26
Date Updated:
Dec 06, 2020 02:42:14
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Mar 24, 2024 07:26:35
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      • bioText: Lynda Schuster is a former foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and The Christian Science Monitor, who has reported from Central and South America, Mexico, the Middle East, and Africa. Her writing has appeared in Granta, Utne Reader, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New York Times Magazine, among other. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and daughter.
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title
Dirty Wars and Polished Silver
fullDescription
From a former Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent, an exuberant memoir of life, love, and transformation on the frontlines of conflicts around the world
Growing up in 1970s Detroit, Lynda Schuster felt certain life was happening elsewhere. And as soon as she graduated from high school, she set out to find it.

Dirty Wars and Polished Silver
is Schuster’s story of her life abroad as a foreign correspondent in war-torn countries, and, later, as the wife of a U.S. Ambassador. It chronicles her time working on a kibbutz in Israel, reporting on uprisings in Central America and a financial crisis in Mexico, dodging rocket fire in Lebanon, and grieving the loss of her first husband, a fellow reporter, who was killed only ten months after their wedding.
But even after her second marriage, to a U.S. diplomat, all the black-tie parties and personal staff and genteel “Ambassatrix School” grooming in the world could not protect her from the violence of war.
Equal parts gripping and charming, Dirty Wars and Polished Silver is a story about one woman’s quest for self-discovery—only to find herself, unexpectedly, more or less back where she started: wiser, saner, more resolved. And with all her limbs intact.
reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: The Washington Diplomat
      • content: "Lynda Schuster's new memoir Dirty Wars and Polished Silver pulls back the curtain... Her memoir showcases the myriad ways in which the field of journalism has shifted since her time as a foreign correspondent."
      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        Starred review from June 1, 2017
        A memoir from the former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor.Schuster (A Burning Hunger: One Family's Struggle Against Apartheid, 2004) finished high school in three years and took off to live in a kibbutz in Israel just in time for the Yom Kippur War. The experience whet her appetite to be in the middle of the action, so she returned home and earned multiple college degrees. After a year covering agriculture in Dallas for the Journal, Schuster received an assignment to cover Costa Rica, which was teetering on bankruptcy. Eventually, she met and married Dial Torgerson, a veteran foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, and they both worked in all the Central American hot spots. After Torgerson was killed in Honduras, the journalist in Schuster fought to remain in the area to uncover the details of his death. Instead, she was sent to Beirut just after the bombing of the Marine barracks in 1983. Between assignments, the author made only short visits to her family in Detroit, as she struggled with the rocky relationship she had with her mother. After a short, terrifying spell in civil war-torn Lebanon, Schuster was posted to Miami to cover Argentina and its ongoing "dirty war." Through that assignment, she met Dennis, the diplomat who would become her second husband. When Dennis received a post in Malawi, Schuster managed to secure an assignment in South Africa. While some of the narrative is focused on the author's dislike of family and her love life, when the author chronicles her professional life, it transforms into a riveting international thriller. Especially enthralling are her accounts of her evening trips to a Soweto in the throes of apartheid, her evacuation out of Monrovia, and a hostage crisis in Peru. What could have been another average cathartic memoir becomes a page-turner thanks to lucid writing and thrilling storytelling.

        COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        June 15, 2017

        In her early years, Schuster longed to be at the heart of the action, even if it involved civil uprisings or war. Her debut memoir highlights the hot spots she covered as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor, including Central America, Mexico, Lebanon, Argentina, and South Africa. Her first husband, Los Angeles Times journalist Dial Torgerson, was killed in Honduras early on in their marriage. When she later arrived in Beirut, the hotel manager asked whether she preferred a room on the car bomb side or the rocket side. After meeting her second husband, career diplomat Dennis Jett, she left reporting but continued to reside in a variety of countries, including Malawi, Liberia, Mozambique, and Peru. When Jett was appointed an ambassador, she was thrown into being, as she calls it, the "ambassatrix" or, senior spouse. Her humorous recounting of the training for spouses includes an explanation of the complex protocol of calling cards. VERDICT This engaging, personal story of self-discovery will appeal to readers who enjoy memoirs of adventuresome and rebellious women.--Judy Solberg, Sacramento, CA

        Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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From a former Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent, an exuberant memoir of life, love, and transformation on the frontlines of conflicts around the world
Growing up in 1970s Detroit, Lynda Schuster felt certain life was happening elsewhere. And as soon as she graduated from high school, she set out to find it.

Dirty Wars and Polished Silver
is Schuster’s story of her life abroad as a foreign correspondent in war-torn countries, and, later, as the wife of a U.S. Ambassador. It chronicles her time working on a kibbutz in Israel, reporting on uprisings in Central America and a financial crisis in Mexico, dodging rocket fire in Lebanon, and grieving the loss of her first husband, a fellow reporter, who was killed only ten months after their wedding.
But even after her second marriage, to a U.S. diplomat, all the black-tie parties and personal staff and genteel “Ambassatrix School” grooming in the world could not...
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