Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Barker) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Remarkable.... [Barker] has written an account of her experiences covering Afghanistan and Pakistan that manages to be hilarious and harrowing, witty and illuminating, all at the same time.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times
 

[An] immensely entertaining memoir.
Boston Globe

 
[P]art war memoir, part tale of self-discovery that, thanks to Barker’s biting honesty and wry wit, manages to be both hilarious and heartbreaking.
Chicago Tribune
 

What you’d hear if the reporter never turned off the voice recorder between interviews—brilliant firsthand outtakes that wind up telling us more about the Afghan debacle than any foreign policy briefing.
Seattle Times


At once funny and harrowing, insightful and appalling.... [The book] will pull you in so deep that you’ll smell the poppies and quake from the bombs.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
 

If you’re looking for a window on the challenges facing Afghanistan and Pakistan today—from a resurgent Taliban to American incompetence to Afghan and Pakistani corruption and nepotism—Barker provides a sterling vantage point.
San Francisco Chronicle


[A]n insider’s perspective of Afghanistan and Pakistan—their fascinating cultures, unstable governments, and burgeoning terrorist groups.... With dark, self-deprecating humor and shrewd insight, Barker chronicles her experiences as a rookie foreign reporter and the critical years when the Taliban resurged amidst the collapse of the Afghan and Pakistani. governments.
Daily Beast


Reveals many enduring truths.... Novel both for its humor and for its perspective...it rises (or sinks) to levels of seriousness that will be remembered long after the po-faced analysis of other writers has been forgotten.
National


Brilliant, tender, and unexpectedly hilarious.
Marie Claire


Candid and darkly comic.... With self-deprecation and a keen eye for the absurd, Barker describes her evolution from a green, fill-in correspondent to an adrenaline junkie.
Publishers Weekly


Politically astute and clearly influenced by Hunter S. Thompson, Barker provides sharp commentary on the impotence of American foreign policy in South Asia after the victory against the Taliban.... Fierce, funny and unflinchingly honest.
Kirkus Reviews