Hilarious plus informative, a nice combo. The author started out as a rock journalist and--I'm not sure he makes it absolutely clear how this happened--morphed into a travel journalist covering recent and current conflict zones. Each chapter tackles a visit to some dangerous or otherwise forbidding place in the early to mid first decade of this century, with amusing insight into the machinations needed to visit and do any kind of journalism in such places. It took me a while to get used to the tone, which tends to the snarky, and sometimes slightly overwritten comedically, in that British/Aussie way; and at first some of the author's breezy putdowns of issues I've been sympathetic with made me a little mad; but once I realized that the cynicism was doled out equally to all parties, I highly enjoyed it. Thanks for a lovely (and imported, might I point out!) gift, Kovacs!