DNF. Lost interest pretty quickly so gave up.

I found this to be fascinating and informative comic-journalism, and I particularly appreciate that while the political situation has evolved significantly since the events in the book, the narrative thread that takes on the nature of journalism supports the continuing story. There are a lot of hard truths for Americans in this book, and I think Glidden's storytelling style delivers them with grace. ( )

This book will make you think about war, journalism, and America's role on the world stage for the past twenty years. ( )

An interesting and important take on the personal effect of the Iraq war on the population, Rolling Blackouts is even more interesting now that Syria has become the embattled nation it is today, especially when the fact that they accepted so many Iraqi refugees is brought up and then (implicitly) contrasted with how they treat their own people now.

Whereas it might have been more interesting to get all the details on all the stories the Globalist team was working on (at least we got Sam's heartbreaking yet totally frustrating story!), I appreciated that Sarah G. felt the need to spend time on the struggles that Sarah S. had with marketing the stories and how to decide on what was worth their effort.

It was maybe a little heavy-handed on the questions of how much an individual American citizen should feel guilty for the Iraq War, though it makes sense because the Sarahs, Alex, and Dan were confronting and being confronted with that question the whole time they were traveling. I thought Dan;s involvement with the trip added a really interesting narrative and ethical element: he was someone who people never would have expected to join the war, yet he claims that he enjoyed every minute and didn't ever question his presence there. In a way, that's believable, as he experienced it with some of his closest friends and knew that they were all there for the right reasons. But the fact that he refused to delve deeper into it, and Sarah S.'s frustration with that, was an incredibly interesting viewpoint into the psychology of soldiers and their loyalties, and how reporters can't always let themselves block any personal preconceptions they may have. ( )

Non-fiction look at the middle east focusing on questions about journalism. A unique look at the region and refugees