Chienne de Guerre a Woman Reporter Behind the Lines of the War in Chechnya

With her powerful description of life on the frontlines and the backroads and rooms of Chechnya, Anne Nivat helps put a voice to this incredible conflict. Having worked in the Caucasus with Chechen refugees, I know her accounts to be real. My only complaint is that she tries to focus on too much and ends up glossing over some of the more interesting and horrifying aspects of the conflict. I remember standing by the office door and actually counting the Chechen staff on Monday mornings after their weekend journeys home...Anne Nivat's book reminds me why. Courage and the will to survive seem to be common traits in the Caucasus and it is a most humbling experience to read this book in the comfort of my home back in the US.

Anne Nivat deserves praise for risking her life to report all sides of the Chechen war. Although its obvious her heart lies with the Chechen civilian population, Nivat goes the extra mile to report on the war from not only the Chechen civilian perspective but also the Chechen rebel and even Russian points of view.I read this book a week before I visited Chechnya (a few weeks after September 11th). Before heading to Russia I had a hard time believing some of Anne's accounts were true. After spending 4 days in the region, I have no doubts that everything she describes in this book is true. You must pay a bribe to get across the Kavkaz checkpoint and the trading of both people and corpses is widespread. I spent only four days in the region with ARMED bodyguards 24/7 and I was still scared for my personal safety. I can't imagine living for 6 months the way Anne did to cover this war.If you are interested in Chechnya..especially the little reported 2nd war...this book is a must read.

I've never been so compelled to keep reading a book that made me cry so hard. Anne Nivat describes in horrifyingly matter-of-fact detail the innumerable ways in which this "Russian internal conflict" has devastated ordinary Chechen people and their land. The Western (especially the American) press too often picks up on the Russian military's frequently espoused view that all Chechens are potentially violent rebels, and that one can't be too careful in dealing with them, because each one of them is a potential combatant. Through her descriptions of the numerous people she meets in her journeys through Chechen villages and cities, Ms. Nivat manages to bring home the idea that the Chechens, no matter how Russian government propaganda or Russian public opinion may portray them, are human beings like all of us. Even if you believe that the Russian government has the right or the need to gain military or political control over Chechnya, it's hard to believe after reading this book that this goal should be accomplished at the expense of the lives of thousands of ordinary human beings and the destruction of their homeland.

It's amazing to think that this account of war correspondence could be true, but it is! It reads more like a thriller. Anne Nivat is 'the real thing' as far as journalists go - willing to defy Russian restrictions on the press and sneak into Chechnya many times in disguise and without credentials to get the true story. Over the course of this ongoing Muslim rebel conflict in the Caucuses mountains, she reported about both the Russian and Chechan sides, showing us how this alleged anti-terrorist operation is demolishing the lives and spirits of the citizens of Chechnya. She dodged bombs, terrorist kidnappers, and minefields to find rebels, mothers, soldiers, whoever could explain to the outside world what was really happening under the smokescreen of fictional Russian government press reports. Nivat's reporting has had a profound impact on European public opinion, and this memoir will have a profound impact on any reader who cares about doing whatever it takes to defy propaganda and get to the truth.

A very brave woman in a very sad place. This book will take you as close to that place as you'll want to be, and in the process burn through the foggy reporting so typical of the American media accounts of the war in Chechnya.