Road Work: Among Tyrants, Heroes, Rogues, and Beasts - Softcover

"Bowden's range is broad . . . With heartbreaking detail, [these pieces] reveal his most effective reporting tool: empathy."--Entertainment Weekly "[Bowden] excels at sharply drawn, painstakingly reported stories about oddballs, losers and con men . . . fashioning prose that reads like good fiction, with the bonus that his stories are true . . . Bowden is that rare reporter whose writing works as well on a small canvas as it does on the big screen."--New York Times Book Review "Astute character reading and solid research combine with ingenious and stylish prose: a superior portfolio from a journalist who stays at the top of his game with remarkable consistency."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "[Bowden] delivers fascinating, and sometimes outsized, slices of life."--Publishers Weekly "A great sample of a politically mainstream but adventurous writer."--Library Journal "Whether the topic is preserving the black rhino in Africa or a traditional high school football rivalry, Bowden is at the top of his form at drawing the reader into the narrative."--Rocky Mountain News

Mark Bowden, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Black Hawk Down, brings readers into the heat of a story in a way few writers can. Road Work offers a selection of the best of his award-winning nonfiction, from his breakout stories for the Philadelphia Inquirer to his trenchant pieces in the Atlantic on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Whether traveling to a small town in Rhode Island to penetrate one of the largest cocaine rings in history, or to the Luangwa Valley in Zambia where a team of antipoachers fights to save the black rhino, Bowden takes us down rough roads previously off-limits. "The Dark Art of Interrogation" exposes the top-secret world of Guant namo Bay, offering an insider's view of the controversial, often shocking ways America is fighting its war on terror. "Tales of a Tyrant" takes us into the world of Saddam Hussein, shedding new and dramatic light on his life, his reign of terror, and his days on the run. From everyday people to mad scientists to celebrities such as Al Sharpton and Norman Mailer, Road Work invites us into the private and public lives of unique and fascinating characters. Powerfully gripping, elucidating, even wryly humorous, Road Work shows why Mark Bowden has won a reputation as a nonfiction writer of the very highest caliber.