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In this definitive biography, Artur Domoslawski shines a new light on the personal relationships of this intensely charismatic, deeply private man, examining the intractable issue at the heart of Kapuscinski's life and work: the relationship and tension between journalism and literature. In researching this book, Domoslawski, himself an award-winning foreign correspondent, enjoyed unprecedented access to Kapuscinski's private papers. The result traces his mentor's footsteps through Africa and Latin America, delves into files and archives that Kapuscinski himself examined, and records conversations with the people that he talked to in the course of his own investigations. Ryszard Kapuscinski is a meticulous, riveting portrait of a complex man of intense curiosity living at the heart of dangerous times. "A truly great achievement" Guardian "Domoslawski's book is a poignant feat of biography, not only because he trekked all over the world on Kapuscinski's trail, but because it reopens dilemmas of integrity and conscience that are still painful for any journalist who tried to report the big world in the late twentieth century ... [a] compelling, exhaustive and often upsetting book." Neal Ascherson, London Review of Books "A compelling and controversial biography ... Mr Domoslawski was a friend of the great man; but resolved to treat his life as a subject for serious inquiry, setting out with an open mind and detailed knowledge, and adding more insights and evidence along the way. The result is an exemplary explanation of what made Kapuscinski tick." Economist "A candid biography [written] in hopes of understanding both Kapuscinski's enigmatic personality and, on a more abstract level, whether journalism is big or brave enough to include more 'literary approaches.'" Booklist

Ryszard Kapuscinski: A Life