Rod Nordland /

Rod Nordland, like all good war reporters, does not call himself one. He covers the human condition. One week it is belly dancers in Egypt; the next, it is war somewhere. As a newspaper reporter and now as Newsweek’s chief foreign correspondent, it has been that way in 150 countries over three decades.

He grew up near Philadelphia with such a travel itch that he mapped the underground world of storm drains. As a teenager, he sneaked onto Greyhounds and conned airlines into free rides. Son of a poor single mom with six kids, he put himself through college to be a biochemist. Then he stumbled onto reporting.

At the Inquirer, legendary editor Gene Roberts pulled him off the school beat and sent him to Asia just as the Pol Pot regime collapsed in Cambodia and the Soviets bogged down in Afghanistan.

For Nordland, it is simple enough. He cares about the world. No one who sees him work – at such a fast pace despite peril and hardship – fails to ask him how he can do it. His answer is plain: “How can I not?”

-

Contributions

Reality in Eye-Rack: It Only Gets Worse

-