No Ordinary Assignment: A Memoir

Ferguson’s poignant memoir illustrates the courage and compassion required to tell human-centered stories from the frontlines of the world’s direst conflicts. Having grown up in 1980s Northern Ireland during the sectarian strife known as The Troubles, Ferguson had already lived with the toll of war when she started reporting from conflict zones in the late 2000s. This fast-paced narrative, with expertly set scenes and vivid characters, tracks her decade-plus of broadcast dispatches for Al Jazeera, CNN and PBS from Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan and beyond. Ferguson also interrogates how her drive to shed light on war’s forgotten victims interweaves with a personal search for peace and meaning. As civilians die while politicians dither, Ferguson ponders whether her work makes a difference. Ultimately, her account shows how empathetic reporting confronts world leaders with the on-the-ground effects of policies made half a world away.