The Man Who Tried to Save the World: The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cuny

by Scott Anderson

What makes a man a hero, and what price must he pay? For one man, the answers came in the scariest place on earth.

Fred Cuny spent his life in terrible places. In countries rent by war, earthquake, famine, and hurricane, Cuny saved hundreds of thousands of lives with a fearlessness that amazed all who knew him. A Texan, a teller of tall tales, a womanizer, and a renegade, Cuny grew ever more daring in his globe-trotting adventures as his motivations became murkier. Was he a danger junkie? A CIA spy? Or a man who truly believed he had the wits and courage to save the world?

After twenty-five years of heroic work that earned Cuny the nickname "Master of Disaster," he set off to the rogue Russian republic of Chechnya, a land of gangsters and Islamic terrorists, a quasi-state engaged in an unimaginably savage war with a Russian army of drunken, brutal incompetents. Cuny went to try to stop the war, but for the first time in his life he was scared, unsure of himself in an insane landscape where betrayal and murder lurked behind every face. He failed to stop the horror, yet soon returned to Chechnya on a mysterious mission. Cuny was last seen on a lonely mountain road, headed for a rebel fortress that was being subjected to the most intense artillery bombardment since World War II.

War correspondent Scott Anderson became obsessed with Cuny's fate, and ventured into the deadly war zone himself in search of answers to several haunting Whom was Cuny working for? What happened to him, and why? Most powerfully, what sort of man believes he can save the world?

The answers to these questions form the heart of this extraordinary narrative, a true-life thriller that brings to light the chaos, treachery, and danger of the "new world order." The Man Who Tried to Save the World is a tour de force of literary journalism and an utterly compelling read.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, War, Russia, Politics, World History

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Scott Anderson is a veteran war correspondent who has reported from Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Chechnya, Sudan, Bosnia, El Salvador, and many other strife-torn countries. He is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, and his work has also appeared in Vanity Fair, Esquire, Harper's and Outside.

Reviews

[Left Coast Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens when you combine a top-notch journalist, an egotistical humanitarian and a group of truly nasty individuals of a sort that I hope I will never encounter? For one thing, you get a book that has stuck in my mind years after I read it.

Most people in the U.S. have never heard of Grozny, and fewer still could find it on a map. Unfortunately for its residents, in the mid-1990's Russian tank and artillery commanders could find it with no trouble, and left it looking worse than Berlin in 1945. The majority of residents, who simply wanted to get along with their day and had no interest in fomenting revolution, were in a desperate situation. Enter Fred Cuny, the aforementioned humanitarian, who cooked up a plan to help them.

The book is mostly concerned with telling Cuny's life story, and shows how impactful one driven and committed individual can be. Among his other accomplishments, he brought potable water to Sarajevo before the shelling even stopped; assisted in recovery efforts for millions of displaced persons in flood-plagued Pakistan; helped feed refugess from Biafra; helped re-house 200,000 people in El Salvador after an earthquake; I could go on.

But Anderson presents the man in all his complexity -- while his achievements were worthy of emulation, on a face-to-face level, there were...problems. Was he effective because he was an asshole sometimes, or were those two aspects unrelated? Many of us can relate to this puzzle.

Then, one day on a routine rescue mission, he vanished. Anderson and Cuny's son tried to find him. Nail-biting adventure ensues.

As mentioned, I read this years ago. I cannot remember why I docked it one star -- maybe because a lot of the detail about Cuny's life wasn't so interesting.

NOTE: Some of the photos in this book, showing the destruction of Grozny -- a Russian city of half a million people, bombed entirely into rubble on Putin's orders -- provides pretty chilling evidence of why the United States should continue to consider Russia an enemy state.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title refers to Fred Cuny, a Texan who spent little time worrying about his own life and instead was obsessed with saving the lives of refugees and war victims around the world. Cuny began as an outsider in the international relief community, but his innovative ideas eventually overcame his brash attitude to revolutionize the profession.

International war correspondent Scott Anderson has written an interesting biography of a modern hero. The first half of the book is spent on Cuny's life up until he went to Chechnya. This half of the book reads a little slow at times but is filled with interesting stories on Cuny's exploits in international relief efforts around the world.

The second half of the book focuses on Cuny's involvement with the brutal war in Chechnya, which Cuny called "the scariest place in the world." As a man who was always in search of a bigger adventure, Cuny was drawn to Chechnya even though most other relief workers avoided the war zone.

Anderson does well explaining the brutality and uncertainty of the war. He documents Cuny's frustration with the Clinton administration's unquestionable support of Yeltsin and willful ignorance of the Chechen debacle. But Anderson is at his best recounting the unprecedented man hunt for Cuny and his companions after their disappearance; Anderson even probably risked his life to retrace Cuny's steps in his last fateful days.

If you are looking for a real-life mystery or are interested in international relations or relief work, this book is for you. After you've finished, be sure to check out the PBS special that has brought even more to light after the book was published. But first read The Man Who Tried to Save the World for its indispensable background on an incredible contemporary: Fred Cuny.

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most well written nonfictional accounts of a fascinating man and an even more fascinating story. This book delves into every facet of humanity; from the personal and emotional journey of an ambitious, talented and enigmatic man, to the tangled and unpredictable world of geopolitics.

[Onur Sazak · Rating 5 out of 5]

If it weren't for Scott Anderson's brilliant journalism and capturing storytelling, a hero of Fred Cuny's caliber would have gone amiss on the world. A formidable loss that would be for today's humanitarians, who are driven by the same zeal that deployed Cuny to the world's worst disaster and conflict zones all throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s. The security risks that claimed Cuny's life are still out there. Those who are trying to help the people of Afghanistan, Somalia, South Sudan, DRC, Myanmar, Haiti--and the list goes on and on--carry on their duties at great personal risks in as treacherous settings as Chechnya, where Cuny disappeared more than two decades ago . As the complexities of conflict and disaster zones expand with each passing day, Cuny's story inspires and dares us to envisage boundless achievements an individual with the right amount of determination, open mind, creativity, and genuine care for the plight of the others can carry out.

Anderson especially deserves praise for presenting a balanced account of a dedicated humanitarian whose life and personality were as equally enigmatic and complex as the realities of the conflict zones he was attracted to. To many, Cuny was a hero whose brilliant relief operations saved thousands in Northern Iraq in 1991 and Sarajevo in 1994. To others, he was a spy collecting intelligence on Russian military capabilities and disintegrating former Soviet republics in as remote places as Chechnya and Ingushetia. Allegedly he was killed by the very Chechens he was trying to aid while on a mission to help evacuate, and provide medical supplies for, civilians facing annihilation under heavy Russian artillery barge. Other accounts allege FSB's involvement in his disappearance after his vocal criticism of atrocities committed by Russian army at the dawn of the post-Soviet Russia. To date, his body, or what's left of it, is still missing.

While none of these challenges are anew for the relief workers who take personal risks on the ground on a daily basis, Anderson's biography of Fred Cuny envelops us with this feeling that we are not alone. The author's capturing prose almost brings Cuny back from the netherworld; it manifests him as an evanescent spirit with a helping hand extended to the ever lost, self-questioning, yet determined relief worker of today.

[Jon Davids · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent companion read to the Good American by Richard D Kaplan. Fred Cuny was a brilliant, brash humanitarian, well know in governmental international aide circles but little known outside of it. Inspiring, and tragic story of a life well lived but, almost predictably shortened.

[Daniel Porcel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gem. I’m so glad I found it.
Read it!

[Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable story of the genius of one man whose passion saved thousands in some of the most desperate parts of the world. From natural disasters to war-torn venues, Fred Cuny was there bringing relief and constructive help in a way no other organization had done before. His passion took him to Chechnya and then took him back a second time. It appears he had a premonition of the dangers lying ahead - on his second mission Fred and his three companions disappeared. Not even Fred Cuny could survive the madness that was Chechnya. Scott Anderson, a war correspondent, went in search of answers and it almost cost him his life too. A harrowing account of a world gone mad. Highly recommended!

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating story which gave really great insight into three things I knew very little about: disaster relief work, the war in Chechnya throughout the 1990s and Fred Cuny, the "Master of Disaster." Anderson makes all three of these factual things tie together very well, but the story by nature is not without its frustrations. The ending left me feeling kind of down, and also gave a relatively portentous view of the Russia that has come into being since publication, which certainly didn't help the futility of my mood. Still, this is a great biography of a man who truly tried to do his best for the world, if for sometimes selfish reasons.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been curious about the story of Fred Cuny, and this book seems to capture it quite well. Well written and engaging - read it on the plane from Khartoum back to DC. I keep coming back to the author's comments about what a crazy place Chechnya is - how you can never really figure out exactly what's going on, who's telling the truth and who's lying, what the hidden agendas are, etc. Reminds me of Sudan. Anyway, I was also surprised at how many OTI-ers are quoted in the book. Can't wait for Harrison Ford's movie to come out!

[Mark Sequeira]

An excellent book about the real terrors of trying to work in or near Chechnya showing it is not just the lack of trust, confusion, kidnapping and avarice that is dangerous but the arbitrary nature of chaos itself.

There is a PBS special that came out some time ago about Fred Cuny and this book is excellent at telling his story and explaining the complexity and fear inherent in the region.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whoah..... Chechnya is one messed up place. Fred Cuny tried to help out. Well, as you know tell from the title, it kinda didn't work. Having worked in the non-profit humanitarian field I had a basis of how hard it is to work in developing countries. But I have to give kudos to Mr. Cuny for all the effort he put into trying to make life better for quite a lot of people. I only wish he would have succeeded so he could have shared all that he knew with others beyond Chechnya too....

[Donna Kubiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book about a conflicted man who had controversial, but working, ideas about relief work. This book made me realize that Chechnya is a place where nothing is sacred. I couldn't put the book down.

[Christa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually couldn't finish this book, which is rare for me. Too much talk about what a wonderful man the hero was, and too little action.

[Clivemichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing. Quite a story, reads like fiction. A true hero.

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book about the life, and the mysterious disappearance, of a man nicknamed “The Master of Disaster”, Fred Cuny.

“Who was Fred Cuny” is a question asked by many, many people, including his family and closest friends and colleagues. Fred was from Texas, and growing up fell in love with planes. He had an uncle who showed him the joys of flying, and became his mentor. From that time on, it was Fred’s dream to become a Marine pilot. After graduating high school, he and a few of his friends went to college at Texas A&M University on a deal with the Marines. However, unlike his friends, his grades were not high enough and he was eventually forced out of the program and out of school. This did not stop himself from reinventing himself as a former Marine officer who was forced from the service because of a terrible accident that severely broke his legs.

From there, Fred fell in love and went on to another college. The woman he eventually married was a liberal hippy, in stark contrast to his staunch conservative and pro-military viewpoint. The marriage did not last long. Fred became a father, fought for and won custody of his son, but then proceeded to start a career traveling around the world. Leaving his son behind at his parent’s home, (where he would grow up), Fred started a for profit disaster relief company. The problem was that it was a difficult field to break into; a field that included the Red Cross. It was also a field that closely guarded the money that poured into it from government programs and private donations. Though Fred had come up with fantastic ideas about how to help people with low cost alternatives, the “big boys” became upset and sometimes hostile. They were afraid that if some outsider showed that something could be built for half the costs, then funds would be cut. Funds that went to “relief workers” who had drivers, lived in hotels away from the area they were to be helping, and who were accumulating a number of perks along the way.

Then in 1976, a huge disaster in Guatemala put Fred’s company on the map. Suddenly his low cost and common sense solutions started to find homes in disaster areas and he started to make a name for himself. It came to the point that when someone asked who could help people in need, in some of the most remote locations on Earth, Fred’s name was at the top of the list. As time passed, he crossed the globe numerous times helping people in natural and eventually man-made disasters. This brought him to Chechnya, a place he called the scariest place on Earth. Fred survived the first trip, but made a second trip back in 1995, and shortly after his arrival, he and three others went missing, never to be found. A huge search was organized, but between the Rebels and the Russians, there were a lack of solid leads. To this day, their bodies have never been recovered.

“Who was Fred Cuny really working for” was a question that has come up frequently. Was he a CIA spy, and if so, was he killed by the CIA, the Russians, the Rebels, or another group entirely? Why did he go back to “the scariest place on Earth”, especially since reports from people he spoke with said that there was a foreboding in Fred’s tone and words before he disappeared? The answers will probably never be known, which is fitting for the man that Fred Cuny was, or at least portrayed himself to be.

I would recommend this book to people who like real-life mysteries along with history. I would especially recommend it to people who are interested in disaster relief missions. It would not have been a book that I probably would have picked up and read has it not been recommended to me, but I did enjoy it. It was a fairly quick read and I thought the writer did a good job keeping the reader interested.

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fred Cuny was an American in the best traditions of us. He was ornery, feisty, irreverent, not one to suffer authority. Somebody who made his own way in the world, and tried to bend the world to how he thought it should look. Fred was a humanitarian who operated on the front lines of world disorder at the height of American power. The eighties and nineties.

This book is about the search for Fred, who disappeared in Chechnya in the mid 1990s when he was in his early 50s. Those years were the worst of the Chechen/Russian war, during the days after the fall of the Soviet Union as the large Eurasian empire was unraveling. He was either killed by the Russians or the Chechens, that much is obvious. The Russians had no love for him because he testified to Congress about Russian abuses as they prosecuted the Chechen war. But the Chechens also had reasons to be suspicious, especially Dudayev, the erstwhile “president” of Chechnya who pretended to have nukes. Which makes Cuny’s disappearance around Bamut, where the nuke base had been, that much more relevant. The Caucasus are mired in conspiracy, something I learned well during my time in Armenia. Dudayev might have thought Cuny was a spy looking for nukes and had him killed.

An important lesson that I took from this book and my own time overseas. Life is like surfing. You have to know which wave to pick, they come at you relentlessly, but you can only pick one. Once you pick the wave, you have to ride with confidence and precision to have any fun. And, maybe most importantly, you have to know when to get off, otherwise the wave crashes you against a rocky shore. If the book is to be believed, Cuny knew that he shouldn’t go back to Chechnya. After almost thirty years doing relief work, he was older. Likely his gut didn’t work it it used to. He was probably tired. He might not even have been that interested. But he went back in, because that is what he did. That’s how he defined himself. He might have justified his trip by saying “This is the last time,” or “They really need me.” But it was his last deployment that killed him.

Nobody talks about Cuny much these days. He was the generation before mine (he was killed in 1994, and I started my work in 1999). And I am also on the other side, after my own twenty-year epic (memoir forthcoming). Worse still, the world has walked away from Cuny’s and my work — most governments are slashing foreign assistance and the struggle to end war and improve the lives of people trapped in their poverty and their wars. It is not a popular endeavor these days. I think Cuny would have had a lot to say about our abandoning of the helpless; he never lacked for words. His was a life worth living, and one to be proud of. Because this is still a world worth saving.

[Silvio111 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another excellent, well-researched and clearly articulated account by Scott Anderson of a complex situation in a foreign society.

Why bother reading a spy mystery by John LeCarre when you could read about a real-life situation like this? The twists and turns as the author investigates the disappearance of a larger-than-life character like Fred Cuny in Chechnya in the late 1990s are navigated skillfully here for the reader.

After you get used to remembering all the characters, whose Russian and Chechnyan names are a bit confounding, what you have is a gripping story of a very large Texan character who funneled his fearlessness and adventure seeking into the service of providing disaster relief in war zones and whose motto was "Creating opportunity from chaos."

After succeeding in various disaster areas like Somalia and Bosnia, Cuny turned his attention to the Russian incursions into Chechnya, which he called "the scariest place on earth." When he went missing, his son Craig and others attempted to investigate what had actually happened, but were stymied by the impossibility of determining who was allied with whom and sorting out the truth from the endless lies and obfuscations.

At this point, the author joined the investigation, and he relates his experiences sifting through numerous versions of the story offered to him sometimes by the same people on different occasions. The conclusion of the story is somewhat of a let-down, but one's attention does not flag, nonetheless.

Scott Anderson has a gift for explaining the complex. This book was unputdownable.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The campfire stories this guy must’ve had...
This story is almost too incredible to be true. It has a balance of wonder, conspiracy, hope and inspiration. I, like Fred, have a natural belief in the goodness of mankind. His story somehow both strengthens and diminishes that belief simultaneously.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went to high school with Fred. We lived in the same neighborhood and our mothers played bridge together. I remember when this happened how shocked we all were.
God bless him. Such a shame his body was never found.

[zefis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books. Fred Cuny is as enigmatic as he is inspiring. This book plays out with a great balance of being mystery, thriller, biography, and investigative journalism.

[Pam Patton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't love this book (as others in my book club did). While I appreciate learning about Fred Cuny's life, it felt more like a homework assignment.

[Craig Dube · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting, but also very hard to follow. The story is about Fred Cuny, "The Master of Disaster", a bigger-than-life Relief executive that went missing in Chechnya in the early 90s. Coming from Texas, Fred had long wanted to make a name for himself and did with his outstanding work in Somalia, Bosnia and other areas of mass devastation and disaster. Initially starting out reacting to weather and nature related events, Fred soon moved over to those areas that were beset by man-made disasters and atrocities resulting from war. It was in Chechnya that he found his greatest challenge and the where the mystery of what really happened to Fred Cuny occurs.

It is clear from the author's description that Chechnya was (and may very still be) a mess. So many different factions, plots and deception seem to exist with every region, leader and office. Rumors abound, most contradicting the information that came before. You simply don't know who is telling the truth and who you can trust. The smart money is on "no one".

And herein lies the problem. There is so many different players and agencies (KGB, CIA, rebels) and agendas you really have no clear answer or indication of what might have occurred. Was Cuny a spy? Possibly? But it seems just as equal that he was killed by the Russians or could it be the Chechnya rebels? You simply don't know.

While it was intriguing and interesting and opened my eyes to a world that I had little exposure to before, it also left too many questions unanswered and gave me very little confidence in any of the theories or ideas of what may have transpired. For those that like these type of books, it may be an interesting read. For my own preference I think it will be some time before I ready something in this genre again.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why do I not know about many of the events that took place in the 90's? Is it because those are my "teenage" years, and teenagers are prone to self-absorption and hence don't look around them? Or is it more a reflection on the United States at the time? When we were being led by a charismatic and "all is well in Zion" leader so we didn't know about this horrible things that were going on?

I'm not sure about that, but this book it about one man who constantly went and put himself in harm's way. All the major disasters from the late 1970's to 1995 when he was killed he took part in relief efforts. Nicaragua, Somalia, Bosnia, South Africa. If something terrible happened there, either natural or man-made, he wanted to be there to help.

But this man, Fred Cuny, wasn't a saint. That's not to say that he broke rules and did things the wrong way. He just liked the glory. He mostly did these things because he liked telling people about them and he liked the glory and recognition he got from them. And still, even knowing that he was a fame-grubbing truth stretcher (or complete liar on some occasions) you can't dismiss the fact that he kept going back. Year after year, place after place, he kept going back to help. Even when people didn't want to listen to him, he would go back and get things done and he would save thousands.

His death was a mystery, and so the author of this book decided to go into Chechnya and see if he could find something out. What he found were a lot of half-truths and people wanting to cover themselves and put the blame on the other side. Ultimately, he thinks he did discover what happened to this great man, but his body has still not been found. He and Fred's son hope to someday bring back the Texan to his rightful home.

[Loren Steffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived in Dallas during the time of Fred Cuny's disappearance, but I never knew the details of the story. Scott Anderson weaves together a compelling narrative that makes a strong case for his conclusions of what happened to the "Master of Disaster." In some ways, the book reminded me of James Neff's "The Wrong Man." While different topics, both authors use investigative journalism to pose an answer to a lingering question. The difference: Anderson conducted his research in one of the most dangerous places on earth.

[Chris Bartholomew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story about someone I had never heard of before. Fred Cuny was head of an NGO going to strife torn areas of the world to facilitate the delivery of aid. A bit of a maverick he made a name for himself by making things happen where other well know aid organizations were stymied. He disappeared during the Chechnya-Russian war of the 1980's. Presumed dead, this book is mostly a story of the attempt to relocate him and in the telling is a revealing look at the Chechnya war and the psyche of the Russian military which is still relevant today.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I learned so much about Chechnya, about disaster relief, and about the million ways beauracracy ruins the world. As a biography of Fred Cuny, it is first class. Anderson's also a great writer, and I was incredibly impressed by the structure of the book. There's also something so trustworthy about his voice. Whenever he told me something, I believed him. That doesn't happen to me much lately with nonfiction.

[Bradley Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this man's story really inspiring, especially when navigating an NGO filled with greed, inefficiency and waste.

[Kpoore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this gets off to a slow start in the very typical "when Johnny was four he wanted to be an astronaut," kind of way, by page 100 or so a firsthand account of disaster relief begins to emerge that pulls the reader, forcibly if necessary, directly into Fred Cuny's world. By the time his story reached Chechnya, I couldn't put the book down.

[Chhaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know a whole lot about Chechnya and this was an interesting and different take on that war. Instead of the typical: this side did x, which caused the other side to retaliate by doing y, etc, this was the humanitarian's perspective of how do we save the people caught in the crossfire. A captivating read though it dragged a little bit towards the end.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I am not usually reading mysteries, this book intrigued me as it was about a man who spent many years helping others with humanitarian aid, then disappeared.
Full of many interesting facts about the war in Chechnya, I learned much about that time period. I found it a bit hard to read, didn't flow well. Otherwise I liked it.