Danger Pay: Memoir of a Photojournalist in the Middle East, 1984-1994

by Carol Spencer Mitchell

Book Overview

An engrossing memoir in which a photojournalist records both the precursors to today's conflicts in the Middle East and her own deeply felt conviction that news coverage of the region actually increases the conflicts there.

"You're going where?" Carol Spencer Mitchell's father demanded as she set off in 1984 to cover the Middle East as a photojournalist for Newsweek and other publications. In this intensely thoughtful memoir,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292718829
• ISBN13: 9780292718821
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Put it at the top of the "Must Read" list.

What a wonderful book! All heart and soul, great parts exceeded by the whole. Talk about throwing caution to the wind to pursue your passion! Carol Spencer Mitchell most certainly lived while she was alive, something too many of us are too busy to do. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. This book proves what Carol came to believe, as her sister, Ellen, informs us: that the pen is more powerful than the picture. Carol's greatest legacy is that she dared to enter a war zone that so few American journalists are brave enough to breach, the space that lies beyond reporting what happens in the Middle East, to explaining why. For its own sake, America desperately needs to know why, which is why America needs to read Danger Pay. And then re-read it. Thank you, Carol, for having the chutzpah to live as you did. And thank you, Ellen, for giving the rest of us the opportunity to learn from Carol's experiences.

Fascinated by Danger Pay

Before reading Danger Pay, I thumbed through the photographs. Some of the images look just like the ones seen in current media. Danger Pay is so unfortunately relevant today. Spencer Mitchell's work provides a unique foundation for those interested in the study of Middle Eastern politics by sharing her experiences as an American photojournalist. Personally, I find following the political scene in that region to be very overwhelming and having a resource like Danger Pay has been a springboard to seek further information in other related areas. Knowing that Spencer Mitchell was not much older than I am now when she was carving out her career makes this quite an enjoyable and exciting read. Imagining myself armed with a camera and a gas mask, minus all forms of modern technology, meeting with foreign world leaders in hot zones for a decade is wild. But she lived this unique life. Her growth as a person as well as a photojournalist is remarkable. Her willingness to discuss media manipulation of image is honorable and should not be overlooked. It should encourage all to seek truth above the comfort of media soundbytes. My focus turns to other journalists and photojournalists to seek out and encourage their real life accounts of their work abroad. Spencer Mitchell's sister, Ellen Spencer Susman, did a fantastic job of following through with her request of finishing Danger Pay after Spencer Mitchell passed away in 2004. Completing a book is a challenge, but doing so for a loved one in order to preserve the integrity of their memoir and legacy is both an honor and a challenge - a true labor of love.

I loved this book

Nothing rings more true of a memoir than the engaging voice of its author. This book documents the experiences of Spencer Mitchell who worked as as a photojournalist in the Middle East and subsequently died of breast cancer, leaving this manuscript behind. She writes compelling accounts of military training camps where women and children were learning terrorist tactics, of intimate meetings with world leaders, of the breathtaking landscape. Her photographs are stunning. I was especially moved by her story of little girls in a battered school room in Gaza--we are still reading about children like these today in a war-torn country. Spencer Mitchell's sister did a wonderful job editing this book. So glad I read it.

Revelation

An excellent and revealing memoir about how one courageous freelance female photojournalist traveled the Middle East trouble spots, photographed world leaders as well as terrorists and eventually surrendered photojournalism in disillusion. It is informative background reading to understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Danger Pay

Mitchell's story weaves together a partial history, a travelogue,a memoir and reflections on the art of photography. While I was intrigued by the author's adventures, I was just as interested in her motivation for always putting herself in zones requiring danger pay. I think anyone reading this book would like to know more about her and will be saddened by her tragic death a few years ago of breast cancer. The photographs are stunning, but this author is the rare person who is a master of two arts for she is also a beautiful prose stylist. Well-done.