From Hollywood To Holy Wars (Book Review)

I desire to kicking off the novel blogging yr amongst a positive post service together with reading Cherie Hart’s biography From Hollywood to Holy Wars-Hounding Celebs, Dodging Bullets, Raising a Family Abroad over the holidays left me just amongst those skilful vibes.

As you lot receive got in all likelihood figured out past times now, primarily because I maintain mentioning it at the outset of most of my mass reviews, reading autobiographies written past times assistance workers is component subdivision of my enquiry on how evolution is communicated through energing literary genres, including (non-)fiction works.

Cherie Hart’s reflections on her UNDP communications career from nearly the mid 1980s to nearly the early on 2010s are a breeze of fresh air to my reading list that is dominated past times retired manlike somebody diplomats or United Nations staff who are normally quite serious nearly their serious United Nations business.
I actually enjoyed getting to know Hart ameliorate equally a journalist, communicator, United Nations bureaucrat, woman, wife, woman bring upward together with expat assistance worker equally it is normally quite hard to select out these dissimilar aspects inwards memoirs. Too frequently they are reduced to seemingly of import professional person features of crises starting together with ending, relationships failing together with becoming to a greater extent than powerful inside the global evolution structures.
It also helps that Hart worked inwards journalism prior to her United Nations career together with honed her storytelling skills.

From the National Enquirer to UNDP
The inaugural of all component subdivision of the mass is dedicated to her post-college career amongst the National Enquirer together with I am glad that I tin focus my review on the minute component subdivision post-journalism. It is in all likelihood fair to state that American tabloid journalism has non gotten ameliorate since the 1980s together with subsequently a few years inwards the concern Hart realizes the take away for a career change.

It didn’t accept long for me to watch grown-ups (mostly men) abuse their ability together with create remarkably offensive things (p.120).

Hart’s inaugural of all encounter amongst sexual harassment correct at the outset of her tenure amongst UNDP differs from the park narrative of how novel staff amongst brilliant ideas together with enough of motivation to modify the basis sense the ‘good one-time days’ of the United Nations transitioning from an international thought into a global organizational apparatus.

I wrote positive, happy tidings for our inhouse propaganda machine that churned out glossy magazines every calendar month (p.128).

Perhaps this is an already seasoned tabloid journalist amongst hindsight writing together with nevertheless 1 time to a greater extent than this is an of import reminder non to live equally good romantic nearly the United Nations scheme together with how it communicated development.

And nevertheless Cherie Hart also points out the ambiguity of the transition to a digital basis of ‘streamlined’ communication inwards the context of her champaign visits:

Those early on UNDP overseas assignments didn’t accept house inwards coming together rooms, PowerPoint hadn’t nevertheless poisoned our thinking or stymied the way nosotros worked. I could see, touching on together with accept pictures of people together with our projects. The words “upstream policy dialogue” – UNglish for getting people together for international gabfests to discuss policies – hadn’t overstep away the norm (p.147).

Inside a gendered United Nations system
From an analytical perspective it is quite interesting how Hart’s narrative frequently deviates from the traditional ‘how I circumvented United Nations cherry-red record together with got nutrient delivered to civilians inwards Cambodia’ approach dominant inwards other memoirs. That is perchance because she worked inwards communications rather than programming, but I recollect it hints at of import broader issues of woman somebody staff watch themselves together with their move inside large organizations.

I for certain saw UNDP families dissever upward over ambition. Women had few options if they wanted to climb the career ladder. Only a handful of women ran champaign offices, together with rarely, of ever, were those women married or had a menage unit of measurement inwards tow (p.180).

These observations may non live surprising for those who receive got been researching international evolution over the years, but they are surprisingly absent from many autobiographies.

Hart’s inaugural of all long-term posting aboard inwards Bangkok allows for interesting insights into 1 of the to a greater extent than convenient expat bubbles the United Nations has had to offering at a fourth dimension when Thailand was already a global hub for the United Nations together with earlier it became a victim of contemporary overtourism.

What a life. While I wrote stories together with editorials nearly poverty eradication together with growing inequality inwards Asia together with helped launch handwringing reports nearly social together with economical gaps betwixt men together with women, rich together with poor, urban together with rural, nosotros played lawn tennis at the British Club together with had drinks at diplomatic mission parties (p.187).

I enjoyed throughout her mass how Hart manages to engage amongst many dissimilar levels of her work, including insecurities together with dealing amongst ‘imposter syndrome’ or broader managerial issues of men ‘failing upwards’ (p.247)

I was running on adrenaline together with fear, non because of the state of war (in Afghanistan) but because my ain insecurities that continued to haunt me. I wanted together with thence much to instruct (UNDP Director) Malloch Brown all over the media together with to examine that I could trace inwards interviews amongst journalism’s heavy hitters. I was together with thence nervous inwards the lead-up to their arrival that I’d retch at black (p.207).

Is the digital United Nations scheme talking equally good much to itself?
When Cherie Hart lastly contemplates leaving her United Nations career I was a flake surprised past times her interpretation of the digital ‘revolution’ together with what it agency for communicating development:

For me, the invention dictionary stifled whatsoever form of complimentary thinking (…). So many meetings, conferences, reports together with reporting mechanisms, either demanded past times donors or internally generated to justify our existence. Too much of the communications move instantly involved promoting ourselves to ourselves through self-congratulatory Tweets, Facebook posts together with spider web stories (p.266).

Perhaps UNDP or like large assistance organizations volition live (or are already?) the printed newspapers together with legacy media brands Hart encountered at her Enquirer move almost twoscore years ago?

In the end, From Hollywood to Holy Wars (despite the slightly cheesy title…) delivers a well-balanced memoir inwards which Cherie Hart finds a actually overnice residue betwixt critical reflection on her United Nations move without descending into snark together with sharing an assistance worker life amongst the correct dose of work-life balance. Hopefully her easy-going mass volition inspire to a greater extent than women to write nearly their experiences ‘in development’ together with add together to a greater extent than nuances to to a greater extent than traditional accounts of how the assistance manufacture actually worked together with the challenges on personal relationships together with families patch ‘saving the world’.

Hart, Cherie: From Hollywood to Holy Wars-Hounding Celebs, Dodging Bullets, Raising a Family Abroad. ISBN 978-2-8496-6028-7, 300pp, 19.99 USD (pb), Jalan Publications, 2018.