cover image My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist and Spiritual Seeker

My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist and Spiritual Seeker

Melissa Burch. Mosaic (Bookmasters/AtlasBooks, U.S. dist.; Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Canadian dist.), $15.99 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-1-77161-177-0

Burch's memoir recounts her remarkable experiences over eight years as a photographer covering the war in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s and as a filmmaker, and also her own personal and spiritual journey as a young woman. It begins when she is 21 and working as a freelance photojournalist. She's contracted to get footage of the war between the Afghan mujahedeen and Soviet occupying forces for CBS and BBC. She later returns to Afghanistan to interview an Afghan commander about the ceasefire he negotiated with the Soviet government. Her accounts provide revealing glimpses into the conflict, Afghan culture, and the dangers of war reporting, particularly for a woman. In the Soviet Union, she films a documentary about American teenagers meeting with their contemporaries in hopes of achieving more positive relations between their countries. The later part of the book describes her work in New York with Women in Limbo, a feminist group of multimedia artists, and her search for spiritual enlightenment in Sufism and the teachings of the mystic Gurdjieff. Burch's honest reflections on her work, difficult relationship with her alcoholic mother, sexual encounters, self-doubt, fears, and path to peace and happiness make the book thought-provoking and compelling. (Mar.)