HOW DE BODY? Hope and Horror in Sierra Leone

The title of this harrowing journey through war-torn Sierra Leone means "how are you?" in pidgin English; as photojournalist Voeten shows in his dramatic but incomplete work of war reportage, Sierra Leone isn't doing well—and neither is he, after a 1998 trip there. On assignment to photograph child soldiers, Voeten finds himself in the midst of a war between a military junta and West African peacekeeping troops. After nearly being killed by a gun-toting teenager, he goes into hiding for two weeks: "I feel like a fox running from hounds and curse the soldiers who won't give me a moment's peace." His disappearance makes him something of a cause célèbre—several of his colleagues are planning to mount a search and rescue—but he's eventually able to leave the country. Yet that's just the beginning of Voeten's involvement with the impoverished African nation. Despite suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he returns to Sierra Leone, and it is in recounting these times that the book weakens. Voeten doesn't delve beneath the surface of his interest in Sierra Leone; he fails to give readers even a basic history of the country or to reflect on what makes journalists willing to risk their lives to report from there. He also neglects to sufficiently describe his PTSD or how his multiple returns to Sierra Leone affect it. By not answering these questions, Voeten ends up with merely a frightening travelogue of a depressing country—and one inelegantly written at that. The photos, which may be the book's highlight, were not seen by PW. (Aug.)