A State of War Exists

The worst moment in a war was my fear I would not be sent to it. So wrote the young Mike Nicholson, a reporter whose astonishing career has covered eighteen major conflicts. Published to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of the Falklands War a conflict Nicholson famously covered for ITN A State of War Exists sees the veteran journalist pondering what made him want to risk life and limb, travelling to the most dangerous parts of the world at the most dangerous times over two hundred journalists have been killed in the last three years alone. Was it machismo or masochism that encouraged him to so compulsively and repeatedly to risk his life Probably, he concludes, it was both. This remarkable book looks at the history of war reporting through a century and a half of conflict journalism from the Crimea to the Kevlar wearing, technology dependent hacks of today, trying desperately to fill the twenty-four hour rolling news vacuum. Along the way, Nicholson introduces us to the greats of his trade and looks at what made them do what they did and what sets them apart from the rest, including William Howard Russell, Frederic Villiers, Martha Gellhorn, Henry Wood Nevison, James Cameron, Claire Hollingworth and Michael Herr.