In Appreciation: Oriana Fallaci

Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist and author, died of cancer this last Friday, September 15th. Her fiery passion and brazen, uncowed style will be missed. You’ll remember, I just reviewed her book The Force of Reason recently here and had read (but not reviewed) her previous book The Rage and the Pride at DH Jeff's insistence when it came out. The Washington Post did a nice write-up on Saturday. She expressed her rage against Islam in The Rage and the Pride, in response to the atrocities of 9/11, and continued her diatribe in The Force against what she saw as the invading hordes of a religion into the West having anything but benign intentions. Ms. Fallaci had a rich career of interviewing (and provoking) political leaders around the world, such as Henry Kissinger, Ayatollah Khomeini, Yassir Arafat and Ariel Sharon. Early in her career, she covered conflicts such as the Viet Nam war and the 1968 massacre of student protesters in Mexico City.