Tyranny, dictator, authoritarianism:Journalists are our contemporary historians, bearing witness to stories that must be told. The articles they produce seize our attention and, moved by what we read, troubling questions come to mind. And where do they find the courage to protest their home regimes in the face of what is often overwhelming adversity and punishment by life in prison or death by a government or its leader? Moral Courage builds on this narrative by asking a different set of questions that to date have received little, if any, attention. What of the person taking on a regime single-handedly, often. Why and what might they have experienced? The author has interviewed 18 of these amazing scribes and presents a profile of each that answers those questions. Each of the world's 18 preeminent journalists (including one of the profiles is of a duo who work together) interviewed by the author have names are often unfamiliar to the general public and work in areas of the world where the people are under duress by leaders that are authoritarian. Complementing each essay are iconic photographs which give a visual context to his thesis. The essays, derived from face-to-face interviews with the journalists give new and revealing insights into those factors, professional and psychological, that motivate these daring individuals to take on opposing roles to leadership and the consequences that come from exposure to grave danger. These may include grievous physical injury, PTSD, moral injury, and prolonged bereavement for colleagues lost. What emerges from these interviews and analyses is a different, unique appreciation of the world of the war and journalist in dangerous zones of political conflict. According to Rachel Maddow, attacking the press, or attacking any source of information, anyone or anything that can offer an authoritative credible perspective other than that of a "deal leader" has to be eliminated, as that is central to the "authoritarian playbook." Anthony Feinstein further maintains that we can see it happening not in just one country but all around the world, and the profiles here prove that, covering journalists under fire in 19 countries worldwide, ranging from India, to Russia to Turkey to Syria to Mexico, Israel and beyond. This ground-breaking book by a singular expert in the field will stir interest in the essential work of the men and women who, armed with only a voice and a pen, venture into the world's most dangerous places.
Dr. Anthony Feinstein received his medical degree in South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand. Thereafter he completed his training in Psychiatry at the Royal Free Hospital in London, England, before training as a neuropsychiatrist at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square in London. His Master of Philosophy and Ph.D. Degree were obtained through the University of London, England. He is currently a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and directs a neuropsychiatry service at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. He is a former Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee of the MS Society of Canada. After having studied and written a book about the effect of war on conflict photographers (Shooting War/2018)Dr. Feinstein has continued to be involved in a series of studies of relevance to current issues within our society. In 2000-2001 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study mental health issues in post-apartheid Namibia. This led to the development of that country's first rating scale for mental illness. Subsequent work in Botswana produced that country's first rating scale for mental illness as well. Dr. Feinstein is the author of Dangerous Lives: War and the Men and Women Who Report It (Thomas Allen, Toronto 2003), In Conflict (New Namibia Books, 1998), The Clinical Neuropsychiatry of Multiple Sclerosis (Cambridge University Press 1999, with a second edition in 2007), Michael Rabin, America's Virtuoso Violinist (Amadeus Press, 2005, with a second edition in 2011) and Journalists Under Fire: the Psychological Hazards of Covering War (John Hopkins University Press) and Battle Scarred (Tafelberg Press, 2011). His most recent book, Shooting War (Glitterati Editions) is due for release in November 2018. In 2012, a documentary, "Under Fire" produced by Dr. Feinstein and based on his research of journalists in war zones was shortlisted for an Academy Award. The documentary received a 2012 Peabody Award. His 12-part series for the Globe and Mail in Canada on war photography, an extended version of which was published in book form (Shooting War) was short listed for a 2016 EPPY award. He lives in Toronto, Canada.
Acknowledged psychiatric expert in the field Anthony Feinstein follows up on his investigation of what makes a conflict photographer with this stirring and totally comprehensible examination of what makes an investigative journalist have the ability to take on an entire authoritian regime single-handedly. It is a unique foray into the lives of some of the least known but more heroic figures of our time.
