On the June 6, 2004, while on assignment in Riyadh, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner and cameraman Simon Cumbers were ambushed by Islamist gunmen. Simon was killed outright. Frank was hit in the shoulder and leg. As he lay in the dust, a figure stood over him and pumped four more bullets into his body at point-blank range...
Against all the odds, Frank Gardner survived.
Today, although partly paralysed, Frank continues to travel the world, reporting and making documentaries for the BBC. This acclaimed memoir was brought up to date with a new chapter that recounted his return to Saudi Arabia for the first time since he was shot and the story he tells continues to move and inspire, and remains an affirmation of his deep understanding of - and affection for - the Islamic world in these uncertain times.
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'Gardner tells his remarkable tale well and bravely, with an astonishing lack of anger and enduring love and respect for the Islamic world' SUNDAY TIMES
'Brave, unsentimental and genuinely inspiring'EVENING STANDARD
'What makes Gardner's moving, often humorous, deeply personal story so important is the fact that he has woven into it a brilliantly dispassionate, clear-eyed account of the Islamic world'SCOTSMAN
'A witty, self-deprecating, inspiring testament'DAILY TELEGRAPH
Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 9780857502438
Number of pages: 528
Weight: 358 g
Dimensions: 199 x 128 x 31 mm
Gardner is a superb reporter; his terrible experience only make his analysis all the more telling - EVENING STANDARD
Gardner tells his remarkable tale well and bravely, with an astonishing lack of anger and enduring love and respect for the Islamic world - SUNDAY TIMES
Chilling, graphic and admirably unsentimental... Gardner comes across as a modest, thoroughly decent man... an exemplary foreign correspondent - GUARDIAN
A witty, self-deprecating, inspiring testament - DAILY TELEGRAPH
Vivid detail... entertaining anecdotes... Gardner is a tremendous model for what relations between East and West can be... a fine introduction both to journalism and to the culture of the Middle East - INDEPENDENT
What makes Gardner's moving, often humorous, deeply personal story so important is the fact that he has woven into it a brilliantly dispassionate, clear-eyed account of the Islamic world - SCOTSMAN
Recounting his injuries and painful rehabilitation, Gardner is witty and moving, capturing without any self-pity the horror of learning his legs don't work - OBSERVER
An amazing true story about survival and overcoming adversity
The book stands on its own merits... as a fine account of journalistic life and a brave account of Gardner's continuing struggle - EVENING STANDARD
Blood and Sand is a remarkable book from a remarkable man - YORKSHIRE EVENING POST
My knowledge of the Middle East is very scant however after reading this account told by the BBC Journalist Frank Gardner, I feel that I now know a bit more about Arab countries and the Islamic world and what makes it... More
This is a book of several parts and is held together mostly by the knowledge that Gardner was shot and that is going to be central to the account of his life, since this is, mostly, a true account of his life to date,... More
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