Louder Than Bombs

"Part memoir, part reportage, this is a story of music from the frontlines: the testimony of a lifelong passion for music from a decorated war correspondent who hates war and a journalist who follows people and stories around the world. Inspired by Samuel Beckett's line from Happy Days ("What shall we do when even words fail"), the book reflects on the fact that in many stressful and painful situations, when our words fail, we turn to music for expression and comfort, or for rage and pain. It asks questions of what music does for people in situations of extreme physical and psychological violence, what it can do "in times of war, against war, and for peace." It also tells stories of concerts that changed the author's life, concerts at which he was present as a young or a more mature man, at home or abroad, in peace or in war"--