Shutterbabe

January 1, 2001
To pursue her dream to cover wars as a photojournalist, Kogan moved to Paris upon graduation from Harvard in 1988. Pretty and petite, with a sharp eye for good-looking, virile colleagues who, incidentally, could help her career, she embarked on a series of adventures that she breezily chronicles with a somewhat disingenuous na vet . Although her publisher compares her to Christiane Amanpour, readers may find more similarities with Candace Bushnell in these episodic vignettes describing both her far-flung assignments and intimate relationships with colleagues. She traveled with Pascal to Afghanistan and Pierre to Amsterdam; Julian helped her in Zimbabwe, but forbade further intimacies; Doru was with her in Romania. When she met Paul, her husband-to-be, Kogan's commitment to photojournalism waned: she blames her distaste on the wartime horrors she witnessed. Calling photojournalists vultures who feed on other people's misery, she conflates paparazzi with photojournalists, expressing disgust at their role in Princess Diana's fatal accident. Upon her return with Paul to the U.S., she began a new career as assistant producer for NBC's Dateline, which she eventually left to become a full-time mother. Kogan's swiftly paced story easily holds the reader's interest as she moves from her carefree days as an aspiring photojournalist to the responsibilities and dilemmas facing a working mother. First serial rights to Talk magazine in the February issue should boost interest in this sassy debut. First serial to Talk. Agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh at The Writers Shop.

June 1, 2000
Christiane Amanpour meets Melissa Banks! So says the publicist. Actually, Kogan is a top photojournalist who recounts her coverage of the world's hot spots while battling discrimination in the ranks.

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2000
" Hedonist," " thrill-seeker," and " collector of men" are just a few of the words Kogan pastes on herself in this exhibitionist memoir of her stint in international photojournalism. Born in 1966, and of late married and mothering in Manhattan, Kogan exercised her freedoms when in her early twenties, boldly decamping for Paris to freelance her way into the employ of Gamma, Magnum, or Contact. Thereafter she was hit by shrapnel in Afghanistan, knifed in Switzerland, and beaten by a lover in Pakistan. She ducked gunfire in Moscow, slept with numerous men, and in general led a high-risk lifestyle. She holds nothing back about the awful things done to her, or about her attraction to the social danger zones inhabited by strippers, heroin mainliners, rhino poachers, and guerrillas. With attitude, energy, and edge, she also records the chauvinistic world of photojournalism as she experienced it. Her account will elicit reactions ranging from censoriousness to approbation. But it seems meant to attract attention, as " Talk" magazine's decision to serialize it attests.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)

November 15, 2000
Kogan graduated from college in 1988 and moved to Paris to find work as a photojournalist. Shutterbabe is an insightful account of what happened next. Divided into three sections, "Develop," "Stop," and "Fix," which are further divided into chapters--each named after a significant male in Kogan's life--the book centers around the author's adventurous travels, which offer a fascinating glimpse into the danger and excitement of observing wars and riots and the competition to take commercially appealing photographs. Kogan clearly describes the economic realities of photojournalism, the difficulty she had remaining removed from the tragedies she witnesses, how she adapted to a predominantly male profession, and the influence the presence of photographers can have on their subject. Her travels from Afghanistan to Romania reveal a life of excitement, danger, and self-awareness that is hard to put down. Recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/00.]--Alison Hopkins, Queens Borough P.L., Jamaica, NY

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.