My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist and Spiritual Seeker

by Melissa Burch

Librarian's Note: This is an Advanced Reader Copy edition for ISBN 9781771611770

MEMOIR 2017 SILVER WINNER OF IBPA BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AWARD • 2016 SILVER Foreword INDIES AWARD • For readers of Cheryl Strayed, Martha Beck, and Elizabeth Gilbert

"My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist and Spiritual Seeker" is based on Melissa Burch s experiences as a war journalist for BBC, CBS, and other networks. Her team was one of the first documentary crews allowed in the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, and she was featured in a New York Times story about her time in Afghanistan. She was just in my twenties when she traveled with the moujahedeen, filmed an attack on a Soviet convoy, slept with an Afghan commander, and climbed 14,000-foot mountains in the Hindu Kush. My Journey Through War and Peace examines how, through outward action and inward exploration, life can unfold in mysterious ways, far beyond cultural and family expectations. In looking back at this momentous decade, Burch shares why she pursued such dangerous and difficult circumstances at such a young age and continued to live on the edge. She now understands that she was seeking self-discovery, a connection to something greater, and ultimately inner peace. This exciting memoir will resonate with fans of "Eat Pray Love," "Wild," and other popular memoirs that describe extraordinary inner and outer journeys.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2016

About the author

Melissa Burch is a bestselling and award winning author, teacher and speaker who inspires men and women to live an adventurous life and to develop their own spiritual practice rooted in the teachings of the heroine’s journey.

Her newest memoir, “Yearning for Magic: Spiritual Journeys of a Mother, Healer, and Lover,” The Heroine’s Journey Book 2, explores the meaning and joy she discovered in surprising places: from a christening on a Greek Island to life in an East Village Quaker community, and from a miraculous healing in Brazil to a life-changing spiritual experience in India, and learning homeopathy.

"My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist and Spiritual Seeker,” The Heroine’s Journey Book 1, won the Silver Award in the memoir category for both the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards and the Foreword INDIES book of the Year Award, and was a #1 Amazon bestseller.

Prior to doing this work, she was a filmmaker, producer and former war journalist for the BBC, CBS, and other networks. Her team was one of the first documentary crews in the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, and a story about her in Afghanistan was featured in “The New York Times.” She was just in her twenties when she traveled with the mujahedeen, filmed an attack on a Soviet convoy, slept with an Afghan commander, and climbed 14,000 foot mountains in the Hindu Kush. These experiences and many more are featured in her adventurous spiritual memoir, “My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist and Spiritual Seeker.”

Burch was the executive producer of "Women in Limbo Presents," a national public television series about women’s lives, and she served as president of the New York Film/Video Council. Her book, “The Four Methods of Journal Writing: Finding Yourself Through Memoir,” was a #1 Amazon bestseller. She spent several years as an internationally recognized leader in homeopathy, co-founded the Catalyst School of Homeopathy, and produced and hosted one of the first successful radio shows on Voice America on homeopathy.

Reviews

[Melissa Burch · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Publishers Weekly:
Burch's memoir recounts her remarkable experiences over eight years as a photographer covering the war in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s and as a filmmaker, and also her own personal and spiritual journey as a young woman. It begins when she is 21 and working as a freelance photojournalist. She's contracted to get footage of the war between the Afghan mujahedeen and Soviet occupying forces for CBS and BBC. She later returns to Afghanistan to interview an Afghan commander about the ceasefire he negotiated with the Soviet government. Her accounts provide revealing glimpses into the conflict, Afghan culture, and the dangers of war reporting, particularly for a woman. In the Soviet Union, she films a documentary about American teenagers meeting with their contemporaries in hopes of achieving more positive relations between their countries. The later part of the book describes her work in New York with Women in Limbo, a feminist group of multimedia artists, and her search for spiritual enlightenment in Sufism and the teachings of the mystic Gurdjieff. Burch's honest reflections on her work, difficult relationship with her alcoholic mother, sexual encounters, self-doubt, fears, and path to peace and happiness make the book thought-provoking and compelling. (Mar.)

[W. Whalin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Well-Written Memoir

Melissa Burch has written a fascinating memoir about her experiences as a young filmmaker and broadcast journalist. Hooked on film at age 16 when Burch took a high school film class. Her experiences of traveling with the mujahedeen in Afghanistan and making one of the first documentary films in the Soviet Union during the Cold War were well-told and interesting.

As Burch writes in the final pages, “My journey took me through war and peace, searching to integrate the male and female aspects of myself, so I could fulfill my individual human destiny. I know a life well-lived is a life lived from the inside out, directed from an inner knowing, full of mistakes, hard times and joy.” (Page 227)

I could have skipped the details about Burch’s lovemaking, romance with a woman and some of the other details in this memoir. In my view, some things are best not included or written differently. The spiritual seeker element mentioned in the sub-title is way different from my experiences and involved in some mystic named Gurdjieff who I have never heard about. Despite these concerns, I enjoyed this book and read it cover to cover. Burch sent me an Advanced Reading Copy of the book for my honest review.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melissa Burch has lived a fascinating life! I will be interviewing her and will post the link when it's up.

[Davide · Rating 5 out of 5]

What caught my eye, in Melissa Burch’s "My Journey through War and Peace", was the tag-line: "Explorations of a young film-maker, feminist and spiritual seeker".
For the uninitiated, Melissa Burch was a young camera operator and reporter during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
So I expected the book to be about the sort of exploration that I like – a first-hand account of a war-torn sector of the map that has been war-torn for most of our history.
What I got was much more.

Burch’s account is vivid and heartfelt – she was in the field with the mujahideen, she traveled through Afghanistan as the Russian army was getting deeper and deeper in the quicksand of the Afghan guerrilla.
But the author is not simply interested in describing the events of the war. The book shows us the ambiguity of journalism – that can be turned into entertainment, or propaganda. The ease with which the information can be manipulated by all involved parties has a sinister, and sometimes surreal feel.
Burch is very frank in her depiction of the events – sometimes almost painfully so.
She’s also quite capable of describing the personality of the people she met with a few, precise and well-placed brush-strokes.

The events of the war are mixed with the events from the author’s life before and after the events – because the final purpose of the book, its actual exploration, is not an exploration of the Afghan territory, or of the Russian/Afghan conflict. Burch is exploring the development of her own personality, of her outlook and her spiritual awakening, together with the events that shaped these aspects of her life

The spiritual side is very pragmatic, personal and almost dry at times, and it is devoid of any new-agey psychobabble or other artifice. It feels authentic, and once again, at times almost painfully so.

Personal growth, international events, the power of images and of individual experience, the long-time effects of the events in our past…
Burch’s Journey touches on a variety of subjects, showing how strange connections can shape the future, of both individuals and nations.
A great read, highly recommended.

[Kathleen Pooler · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Journey Through War and Peace is the true story of a young woman’s dramatic quest for adventure as a photojournalist in war-torn Afghanistan in the 1980s.
In 1982, at the age of twenty-one, Burch took a freelance assignment in Afghanistan to film the mujahedeen rebellion against Soviet invaders. It is within this framework that she reveals both her outward and inward journey for peace—both in the world during The Cold War and within herself.

With unbridled honesty and vivid imagery, she unveils her humanness with all its desires, fears and naivete as she doggedly pursues her dreams. Not only am I pulled into her story, but I am right there with her as she navigates the rugged terrain of a foreign country. Her characters are believable and multidimensional and the plot flows seamlessly as I follow her, sometimes cringing because I can relate to the well-intentioned but misguided choices of my own twenties.

Through a multi-layered narration, her Afghanistan adventures become a metaphor for discovering her personal spiritual journey where she seeks and unveils meaning and direction in her life. This memoir illuminates a significant phase in our history and immerses us in another culture. We get an insider’s view of the Afghan people during The Cold War. It helped me put the current unrest into a historical context. It also reinforced for me how stepping outside our comfort zone is often the way we find ourselves.

A moving and well-written memoir with a powerful message about the journey to find self. I highly recommend this engaging and satisfying read that will make you think about your own spiritual journey.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've seen the trailer for the new movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, where Tina Fey plays a war correspondent in Afghanistan — or if you've seen the movie and were disappointed by how simplistic the plot and script were —you're in luck. Melissa Burch's memoir is the real deal.

I was mesmerized by this powerfully-written memoir. I was on the edge of my seat at times while reading about her adventures as a young filmmaker who put herself in the midst of battles in order to test her bravery, gain self-knowlege, and tell the world about what it was like to live in a war zone.

Burch is just as brave in revealing aspects of her childhood and adult relationships which most of us would not want to share with the world. She's a dynamic, complex, remarkable woman and I enjoyed the time I spent in her company while reading this book. If you enjoy adventurous memoirs or feminist journeys, I encourage you to read My Journey Through War and Peace.

[Reader Views · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by David K. McDonnell for Reader Views (02/17)

“My Journey Through War and Peace” by Melissa Burch is the author’s memoir of her experiences in the 1980s, including her freelance filmmaking in Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. It also includes her strained relations with her family, her loves at home and abroad, and her quest to find independence and self-identity.

Her retelling of the Afghanistan experience is the best element of the book, by far. At only 21, she went to Afghanistan to film the Afghan-Soviet war. She was assigned by an Afghani leader to a seven-man mujahedeen unit. The unit was ordered to ambush a Soviet convoy so she could film it for an American and British audience. Burch did shoot an ambush, with the Afghan destruction of a Soviet truck and the Soviet destruction of an Afghan village. Burch later shot footage of an already-downed Soviet helicopter. CBS News spliced the footage of the small ambush and the helicopter scene, together with someone else’s training footage, to present it as a much larger battle.

Burch returned to Afghanistan a few years later to track down a story of local cease-fire. A local mujahedeen leader and his Soviet Red Army counterpart tacitly agreed to stop fighting. It appeared to be an amazing story, and Burch had to cross the treacherous mountains from Pakistan to get it. She got the story, with the necessary film, but no one wanted to air it. It simply did not fit the network’s narrative for what was going on in the war.

Both Afghan stories, as well as a later film expedition in the Soviet Union, are told crisply and with surprising detail – surprising since the book was written decades after the experiences. They also lay the foundation for her life journey, since her dangerous and arduous reporting was unappreciated by network news.

Burch mixes the overseas stories with remembrances of her home life in Washington, D.C., and her return trips to visit her family. Her relationship with her mother was especially poignant. The mother was an alcoholic and sometimes overbearing. She was also the family breadwinner and a feminist and, ultimately, an inspiration to the author.

The author’s father was a Zen Buddhist, as the author eventually becomes. The book is designed, in part, as Burch’s quest for spirituality, which ultimately leads her to Zen Buddhism. In this area, I felt the book didn’t quite get there. There is little of her experiences in the 1980s that would inexorably lead one to Zen. Perhaps her memoirs of the next decades might fill in this gap.

Unless the author is already rich and famous, it is difficult to make a memoir entertaining or engrossing. Yet Burch does a wonderful job in translating her personal experiences, though decades past, into a compelling and inspiring story.

[Lis Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

At twenty-one, Melissa Burch is an aspiring young filmmaker and war correspondent. It's 1982, and she takes an assignment to go into Afghanistan to film the mujahadeen fighting the invading Soviet troops. It's hard, dangerous trip, and she finds herself making the trip into the mountains as the only woman with a small troop of mujahadeen. That wasn't the plan; Maria, the more experienced woman who arranged this and was supposed to be traveling with them backs out at the last moment. She's decided that one more trip into the Afghan war zone is just pushing her luck too much.

Burch persists, and develops a real camaraderie with the troop. Yet when she winds up filming footage that gets edited to combine real combat with an essentially staged attack on an already-downed helicopter to make a CBS report that she believes doesn't represent the truth of the conflict, she feels frustrated and used.

Nevertheless, she learns a lot about her ability to face hardship and danger, and it's the start of a journey of personal growth. It's also not her last, longest, or hardest trip into Afghanistan.

Back at home in the US, we follow her professional struggles as well as her family troubles. Her parents are divorced, and her mother drinks while her father has remarried and become a Buddhist--which sometimes has the effect of making him seem a bit distant and detached. She tries to balance her own needs with the guilt she feels for having left her younger brother and sister to cope with their mother on their own. And hardly a year has gone by before she's on her way back into Afghanistan, this time with the hopeful intention of filming a truce between one major mujahadeen commander and the Soviets, showing it's possible and, she imagines, influencing global policy.

It's a frustrating, disillusioning, and yet enlightening journey. She has harrowing experiences and unexpected joys and successes. And when she is home again, there's both more enlightenment and more harrowing emotional experiences.

There were times I wanted to shake Burch and tell her both to be less of a patsy, and to stop using others. Yet a great deal of that is because she's trying hard to be painfully honest about her mistakes and failures as well as her successes, both personal and professional. In the end, she comes out the other side a stronger, better person.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

[Stace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melissa Burch was a war correspondent, working for many major television networks, including the BBC and CBS. My Journey Through War and Peace is her memoirs of that period in her life.

From a young, novice, war correspondent, to a woman who has witnessed the horrors that war brings with it, she has covered some of the major battles throughout the Eastern world and the Soviet Union.

Whilst capturing the devastation of war through the lens of her camera, she became aware of the change that war had done to her, not just physically, but spiritually as well.

This is her story.

The book dives right into the thick of the action of 1982 when Melissa was a young, naive woman, just turned 21 and about to shoot her first war footage in Afghanistan, at the heart of the Cold War. She was with the Afghan Freedom-Fighters, Mujahedeen as they prepared to carry out an attack on a Russian convoy, and it was her job to film the attack.

This book creates both visual and emotional images of war via Melissa’s memories of her time in the East. You not only get to read, but you get to watch as the scenes play out in your head.

It’s not often that I like to review peoples’ memoirs. I often feel that they are too personal to pass judgement on, wondering how can I sit and critique someones’ past. Just as well that I enjoyed this book, along with the reality that this book doesn’t actually read like a memoir, it reads just like a fictional book about a film maker, although this could be down to scenes that you just couldn’t comprehend as being real.

Melissa had some tough and trying times over the years. These events shaped her and changed the way that she perceives the world and herself, bringing spirituality in to her life.

This is a full-on, gripping book that will touch your heart, and make you see the world through the eyes of a very tough and brave woman, who just wanted to help change the world.

Reviewed by Stacey at www.whisperingstories.com

[Julie Failla Earhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melissa Burch’s story is based on her experiences as a freelance journalist during the Afghan War. When she was only 21 years old, Burch, and her cameraman, was on her to become the first journalist to capture the mujahedeen rebellion against Soviet invaders on tape.

The book opens with Burch sleeping a dirt floor with seven heavily armed Afghan soldiers, ranging from 19 to 20 years old. The tales of journey through Afghanistan will cause the hair on your arms to stand on end. The relentless heat, hunger and fear never left her. The hiding from the Russian soldiers was perilous and terrifying. She must have covered the entire country either on horseback, motorbike or foot. I felt her pain as she described a march through the rocky, mountains with Afghan soldiers

There was on anecdote where she and he soldiers were hiding when the Soviets were passing by. They had no sooner left the safety of the deserted compound, than it was blown up.

One of the things that surprised me about Burch’s time is Afghanistan was that she was never raped. A lone woman traveling with many men had to be vulnerable. Not to say that she didn’t take up with one of the leaders, but it seemed more mutual consent.

My favorite parts of the book were after her return to the States. Maybe it was because I could relate more to that experience.

I approached Burch’s memoir with a bit of negativity. Earlier this year I had tried to read Malala Yousfzai’s I am Malala. I was prepared to be pulled into to that story, but I didn’t past page 50. I was a little afraid that I might experience the same issue with My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist, and Spiritual Seeker. But from the opening scene that I described earlier, I was hooked. Although places were a little choppy, but it is riveting.

[Gayle Pace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is based on a war journalist's experiences. That journalist is Melissa Burch who worked for BBC,CBS, and others. During the Cold War, Ms. Burch's team was one of the very first allowed in the Soviet Union. During this time, this was quite an accomplishment. Ms. Burch was only 20 years old when the New York Times documented her trip in Afghanistan. She did some amazing things when a lot of journalists weren't even allowed in the country. She and her crew filmed a Soviet Convoy being attacked while she was traveling with the mujahideen. She slept with an Afghan commander. She is a strong women who puts fear aside. She climbed 14,000 foot mountains in the Hindu Kush. The author, Ms. Burch shows through outward actions and inward discovery how life can be very strange. Life pulls no punches. It is what it is. Ms. Burch looks back on a decade that is filled with so many experiences, some good, some bad. She was so young to go on these journeys that were dangerous and not t he best of circumstances. She was looking for that inner peace that we all seek. That peace is only found by getting to know and accepting the real you. This is a fantastic memoir that includes the outer and inner findings of the author. This isn't the kind of journey that is right for everyone. Strength, both outer and inner is a must. Fear must be set aside. It's for those who have the drive to seek the answers to their questions.

I received a complimentary copy of My Journey Through War and Peace from the author, Melissa Burch for my unbiased view. No other compensation took place.

[Ryan Tilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melissa Burch's memoir is the best memoir I have read since "Girl in the Dark." Due to the subtitle, there was cause for concern when I read: "I didn't believe in heaven, only an existential hope that there was more to life than war and peace." Energy can never be destroyed; hence, the continuation of both human and animal consciousness after death is a given. The author not only sought to give her first-hand account of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but she also discussed her evolving spirituality. In our materialistic culture, about five hundred books a day are published and most of them have all the depth of a mud puddle. This work is a welcome change from the normally vapid tales that most American publishers offer. Burch's psychological insights are very astute. She seamlessly transitions from the war between her divorced parents and the war that she chose to film. If there were any typos or grammatical errors in her book, then I failed to catch them. I would subtract nothing from her manuscript. However, I would suggest adding one word to any future edited editions. When the author wrote: "There was no moon that night," one would assume that she meant that there was no visible moon that night. The poet in me wonders if the hypersensitive Annabel Lee would be reduced to tears by that statement. I am sure that the Orlando moon-bashing poet, Brad Kuhn, would love that page, but that is another story. Burch's memoir is divided into three parts consisting of three chapters each which is not only structurally effective, but also symbolic.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Journaling as a way of writing memoir has proven very successful for Burch in this debut offering. All but the last few pages, the recapping of what you read, are written during her early twenties, at a time when she struggled with home life. A difficult relationship with her father, and her mother's plunge into alcoholism, led Burch to strike out on her own, running from her struggles and desperately searching for meaning in her life.
Her journey as a war photographer in the battlefields of Afghanistan during the Russian invasion may have been more of an outreach than the average twenty-two-year-old, let alone a young lady, would tackle but she does and with success, in fact going back in a return tour of duty. In that segment of her life, she endures and enjoys an eye-opening endeavor and takes on a strength unlike most of her age. No wall-flower status at all.
Her continued forays in the world of film and personal relationships, her grasping for a spiritual life, her take on physical relationships, and additional hardships, while filming in Soviet Russia all while looking for an independence and a reliance on a spiritualism that is always almost in her grasp.
By sharing space in her younger years, and hinting at a future as yet undocumented, Burch takes us along on some of the formative times of her life and leaves us asking for the next chapter.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

What fascinated me about the book belongs to me sense not enough women have adventured, truly adventured outside our cultural limits. Here proclaims the title unfolds the drama of a young woman throwing herself into life without restraint or regard for personal safety. I admire that.
The book satisfies. Narration of her time in Afghanistan follows a smooth path even if the events were anything but smooth. With few details, Ms. Burch succeeds in drawing characters and places that leap to life even as she endangers her own with fast choices made through the immortality of youth. Yet survive she obviously does.
Her survival itself becomes a focus for her greater search. Did she make it through sheer personal determination and instinct? Does something larger play out in the lives of us all?
She begins her tale with an edgy, self-assured, (all right, somewhat overly confident) voice that demands of her world right and wrong, yes and no, us versus them but by the tale's end that voice itself has softened, widened to include shades of grey and her hard won understandings of others, including her mother.
The book does satisfy. It's worth the read to discover more about how a young woman who throws herself into the path of death or disfigurement, more than once, turns those adventures into the stuff of a wiser, more mature life.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Journey Through War and Peace by Melissa Burch is a memoir that is also meant to serve as an example of how one's life experiences can assist in one's spiritual journey. This book is less about preaching how to join the physical and the spiritual journeys, that is left to the perceptive reader to largely understand since we all have different ways of understanding.

While I found the memoir quite interesting I was probably less captivated by the spiritual implications. That isn't to say I didn't make some connections that helped me to understand my own journey but that this was primarily, for me, a memoir about a remarkable young woman's adventures while making her own distinctive path in life.

I have been on her email list and have found her outreach to others to be very positive and helpful. While this book shares many things with her spiritual endeavors, I still tended to separate the two.

I would recommend this to readers who like memoirs and particularly those interested in a woman's experiences in a combat environment. For those familiar with Burch the spiritual aspect will also be of strong interest.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Story Circle Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melissa Burch's story in this book is a journey of several layers. The first is that of her experiences filming the mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion of that country. Thrown into an alien and largely male environment, Burch pushes her limits both physically and emotionally and finds resources in herself that she had been unaware of. The second layer is her struggle to accept herself as she is, while working to create and live an authentic life in which she is capable of change. This part of her journey is both outward, as she explores her sexuality and her relationship with her parents, and inward, as she discovers a spiritual path that allows her to grow and pursue paths that she previously would not have been able to follow.

Burch's story is unique yet universal, touching the part of all of us that struggles for self-understanding as well as a feeling of security in who we are and where we function in society. I was impressed by how clearly she presents the character of her younger self in a realistic, sympathetic manner. The book is well-written, doing justice to both journeys, the inner and the outer.

by Khadijah A.
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down.

"Each adventure that called me was an opportunity to test myself, validate my existence, and connect to something much greater than myself. I experienced this as a kind of an obligation, a giant positiveness filling my body, my cells pulsating, freedom beckoning, as I said "YES" to each new idea.

But that didn't mean I was without worry. The angst was there always, even while the "yes" brought clarity and opportunities. I just settled on a kind of counter-intuitive balance, a letting go, my own version of non-attachment: use fear to release fear, discover a new self, and reach a state of wonder."

Yes!

Melissa describes her experience as a journalist during a time in history I was not very familiar with.
She is struggling to find her place in the world, that balance between career, partner, daughter, and friend. She sees brilliant women in her life pushed into motherhood because careers were just not a valid option for them. She is striving for more.


Her journey is so real and authentic, it is easy to relate to.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Lilith Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. In a time when women are seen different. In a place where men control the rules, Melissa Burch went in and broke many bounries. It was a great eye opener to follow Bruch on her story from assisting on an assignment to taking over and doing things her own way.

When we see a news story or a breaking report happening all the way ccross the globe, we never really get to see the behind the scenes. What really went into the story and all the effort it took get get then one perfect moment.

By reading this book, I not only have an appreciation for what is going on in this world, but I have a new appreciation for all the time and effort it took. For me, I know I will never see the news again in the same way.

Melissa Burch not broke boundries to cover great stories, but she broke down walls that many women could not. Following on her journey was amazing and a real inspiration. A book worth the read.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and were in no way influenced by outside sources. I am a professional blogger at Little Lady Plays

[Julie Matthaei · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, and am on my third read through. I expect I will continue to come back to it when I need to be brave, and challenge convention. Melissa is a modern-day feminist heroine. I learned much from this story of her 20s, in which she travels to Afghanistan and the Soviet Union as a budding film-maker, works through difficult issues with her alcoholic feminist mother, explores her sexuality, and becomes part of a vibrant feminist performing artist community. Melissa takes risks and learns and grows. She makes things happen by being in the present, being open, and using her mind, heart, and considerable intuition (the latter saved her from being blown up on a road after filming in Afghanistan!) She learns from her considerable achievements, and also from her mistakes. The book is beautifully written, an engrossing read which I hope will inspire many to take the risk of stepping off of the beaten path to follow their own inner compass. I look forward to reading the other two books in her memoir series, and to staying connected to her and the “heroine’s journey” project through her website.

[Geoff Woodland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t met the author, nor heard of her as a filmmaker, but she e-mailed me and asked if I would like to read her book. I checked the outline of the book and found that she worked as a young woman in Afghanistan filming news items, and this sounded interesting, so I agreed.
The first part of the book was exciting as she detailed her time in Afghanistan as a young film reporter for TV stations. The reasons for various TV station & print media showing or rejecting her work confirmed my own thoughts on the moral standing of certain elements of the media in today’s world.
On the author’s return from overseas we were told of her relationship with her then boyfriend, and various girlfriends, as well as her mother. After the excitement of Afghanistan & her visit to Russia during the cold war, for me, the soul searching for a spiritual anchor and her relationships with friends and relatives was of less interest than her work.
Overall I found the book to be an easy read at 180 pages, and the details of her time in Afghanistan was fast paced and read like a novel.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more interesting memoirs I've read. The lady is damn courageous (or foolish--the line is fine) and gives a great account of a bit of combat and a lot of physical misery. And that, for you who haven't had the pleasure, is what wars are about for the grunts. As most combat vets know, there are the times of glory and adrenaline rush. But there are long stretches of dirt, cold or heat, itches, coughs, the runs, the anxiety, and all the third world problems most people of the earth deal with everyday. Melissa does a great job of filtering out the glamorous side of covering a war.
But the heart of the book for me was the background and progression of her relationship with her mother. Here the author is really on top of her form. As frustrating and heart-breaking as any account of that often tenuous relationship I've read.
I would recommend this to all daughters and mothers (that covers quite a few folks) and to all males who often wonder just how women think in what is most commonly male situations. Very nice job.

[Charles W. Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I will be posting my full review at Amazon when the book is released.

Suffice it to say, though, that My Journey Through War and Peace is, perhaps, the most engrossing, most candid memoir I've ever come across. Further, I come away after reading this with a changed political attitude.

At the same time, my heart goes out to Ms Burch and those whom she has loved and worked with in conditions that, frankly, I cannot even begin to imagine being in the places she traveled in such a death-defying hunt for the big story or the award-winning film.

I say that as one who did venture to the Palestinian territory during Intifada II, and To Egypt and to Libya not long before Qaddafi's fall.

Ms Burch deserves great accolades not just for her courageous journalism, but for her stunning confessions or openness regarding her personal battles.

I sincerely recommend this memoir to anyone, but beware, their is some, for me anyway, some stunning erotic lovemaking discussion.

[Michal Joyner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a preview copy of this book, and I read it over my Christmas vacation. I never knew it was so hard to produce a movie. The book is an amazing journey of a young woman who seeks adventure while attempting to make sense of her troubled childhood. In light of the political environment and negative press about foreigners in America, I found the author's adventures very enlightening.

Without giving info in the book away, her struggles with her Mother were handled with care and respect while being brutally honest. I feel many women will relate to Melissa's journey into womanhood.

The journey of her faith development was interesting to me; however I am a devout Christian, so I guess I couldn't really relate to her exploration of alternative beliefs. Just my personal opinion.
I really enjoyed the book as I think Melissa's journey will be an inspiration to many women.

[Susan R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in awe of Melissa Burch's bravery and inner strength as I read this memoir. Her experiences in Afghanistan and the Soviet Union provided clear insights into how hard it was - and doubtless still is - to be a female filmmaker in a war zone. Much of her life in New York City was a not-unfamiliar saga of starving artists in New York City in the 70's and 80's, yet somehow, Burch makes her story stand out. She is very open about her family relationships, her sexuality and her living conditions.

I found Burch's narrative a compelling picture of both her personal struggles and a moment in history. I recommend it highly.

[Jamie Holloway · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this ladies adventures.

[Jacques Coulardeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

MELISSA C. BURCH - MY JOURNEY THROUGH WAR AND PEACE, EXPLORATIONS OF A YOUNG FILMMAKER, FEMINIST, AND SPIRITUAL SEEKER – TO COME OUR MARCH 1, 2016

Try – if you can – to read this book ABSOLUTELY NOT as an autobiography because as such it is exactly what you are not supposed to do in many situations, particularly dangerous situations. I take it as a true confession of many episodes in the character’s life, a confession of the character and not the author. In such confidential and confessional writings truth is no longer what actually happened but what could be learned, what the character reminisces and these recollections must be understood as both real material experiential events and at the same time a mixture and crisscrossing of material elements and fantasized elements for the whole to be meaningful and effective for the reader.

What I say here will be crystal clear after the two war correspondent episodes. These two episodes are saying that without any real training, without any real warning, without any real anything a 21 year old woman that we will consider as no longer virginal, without even mentioning of pills and other contraceptive means that would have been the number ONE recommendation, that this young woman jumps into one of the worst episodes of jihad, the Islamic war against non Islamic Russians or Soviets if you prefer, in both cases, without any real training in Islam and the place of women in Islam, without the fundamental elements that could only enable her maybe to go through, like a veil, and a complete veil if possible first of all and there are many other elements to take into account. If in such a state of total non-preparation this woman survived let’s say not too much bruised is in itself a divine miracle.

By bruising I mean the rape she suggests in Pakistan from some guide and the semi-rape she suffers too between Pakistan and Afghanistan from an 11 year old boy in the female quarter of a private home, showing that up to a certain age that we generally call puberty boys are entrusted to women and can or must live with them in the female quarter of a private home. She does not mention that because probably she does not know. For a boy to be admitted among men in this culture some particular rites and rituals must be fulfilled and they can’t be fulfilled before that certain age we used to call the age of reason (12 in the Christian tradition).

But in such a situation a woman has nothing to say, nothing to do because she did not protect the men from their desire by covering themselves from top to toe. Strangely enough, after the second rape or rape attempt she will cover herself fully, though it must only have been for a short while, but she should have known that from the very start. Such a woman is despised by all Muslim men but it generally does not go beyond if such a woman is not a member of a Muslim family because then that Muslim family would consider this woman had soiled the honor of the family and would require the normal sentence for such a crime, which is being stoned to death.

But if it were only that we could say this character has been lucky not to suffer more in her “exhibitionism” because that’s what her attitude would be considered to be by a very traditional, even moderate, Muslim family. Iran right now is going through some evolution that develops a fashion movement for the way women dress. But it has nothing to do with miniskirts or jeans. It has to with fashionable veils, in fashionable fabric with fashionable designs and colors that are far from black. Even in a city like Paris the women who are wearing the Islamic veil, which cannot be the full veil of fundamentalists because it would be against local law, are showing a great imagination and creativity in the fabric they choose and the patterns, motifs, etc., of the decoration of this veil. You can see that in the street, and we are not in the Afghan mountains in 1982 and 1983 among those who were going to become the Talibans.

In other words she went through some kind of miraculous epiphany twice since she should normally have been stoned to death within two days the first time and there would have been no second time.

But the character in her confessions goes miles further.

In her first mission in Afghanistan she is finally more or less sympathizing with one commander in her little Jihadist group, Commander Doc, she has an intimate episode with him who is a married man, she is invited to his family home and she knows what she is doing. She knows that it is adultery and that if the normal Islamic law were implemented she would be stoned to death and the man would not even get the slightest reprimand. He would have taken advantage of a western exhibitionist, which proves nothing about him, except that he is a man and he knows what is good for him in various situations. He would certainly have not touched her if she had been a Muslim, and anyway if she had been a Muslim she would not have been there in jeans riding horses, using cameras and taking pictures.

Then we wonder why in the second mission she does exactly the same mistake that leads her first to the rape and attempted rape and then she is defended by one of the two commanders of the group, Baba Fawad, who accepts her inside a mosque for the night in the mountains along with the men. And this female character has an adulterous liaison with the man who is married and has four wives. And she even goes further and suggests that she could bring him to New York. I just wonder why and what for? He would be ostracized. He would be an immigrant for a short visa and then an illegal immigrant who would have to marry the first American woman available to become an American citizen, with no training, no profession, no future, etc. What does that character has in her mind at that moment? She would create the worst possible illusion and dream that would lead to the worst possible frustration, at least, if not traumatic experience. PTSS good morning, should I say Vietnam? This female character exposes how blind, self-centered and irresponsible one can be in such dangerous situations.

She was young you would say and the character is obviously a flashing warning light for more candidates who would like to do the same today in Syria for instance, on the Islamic State’s side of course. With a photographer who had been a war correspondent in ex-Yugoslavia during the wars there, him and I, we manage to prevent one niece of mine from going on a peaceful and pacifying mission in the heart of Muslim Yugoslavia just after the war. My friend explained her that it was not exactly a safe place for a western woman who would neither be a Muslim nor respect the basic customs of Muslim women. She chose Georgia instead and that was definitely a better choice, and a relief.

I have been in dangerous areas like Zaire (Kinshasa) in 1967-68 under Mobutu and in 2005 in Sri Lanka (where I was greeted two days after my arrival by LTTE militants assassinating the Tamil Minister of Foreign Affairs in Colombo. In both cases I was a man and I was not directly involved in the zones where violence was happening, but even so we were carefully prepared and advised not to do some things, not to look arrogant, not to look anything but humble. I entirely lived for one month in a black neighborhood in Kinshasa, sharing a home with an African family, and even though I was accepted and even though this zone was peaceful, I was supposed to be cautious, at least cautious. And this neighborhood was a Christian parish, which makes things quite different.

Maybe I have said enough about this character in such situations but it is obvious that this character should not have survived the various adulterous episodes she went through. Either she is fantasizing them or she was divinely lucky. Maybe her being stoned to death would have been a monstrous murder, but I just wonder how she managed to do what she says she did without getting into real trouble.

The second big chunk of this character’s saga I want to discuss is her sexual orientation and marital projects. That has to do a lot with what this character tells us of her family, mother and father essentially.

They all survived, including the father who was burnt 40%, a rather unwise thing the father did. When gluing some tiles in the kitchen of their home, the heating apparently on, I mean some kind of open fire furnace, with no ventilation, he caused a serious explosion when the vapors of the glue he was using, probably what’s more without a mask, caught fire. She was apparently traumatized by it. On the other hand the mother with whom she lived all her youth, including of course after the divorce, was an economist working for the Federal Reserve and she was a very serious alcoholic who will die of it. She obviously lived that situation as traumatic. The character thus had no hope to be fully balanced because these traumatic circumstances developed in her a Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome that made her at least psychotic: “I am different. I can’t be assimilated in the world, so I will build my own world where I can integrate. Or I will try to force the real world to change the way it will make me able to integrate.”

That’s why this character goes to Afghanistan, out of defiance. She gets into filmmaking for the same reason, to build her own discourse against the world. She would never be a journalist that goes on a mission and does what he or she is asked to do and then lets the medium he or she is working for do the wrapping up and the broadcasting. The character wanted to impose her own vision and of course she failed. So she got connected to an independent producer, Sarah, who has the same name as her mother: do not believe Freudian transference does not exist. Though she is officially engaged with a Greek sailor who is doing his military service in the Greek armed forces and who intends to marry her – and she says she intends to do just that – yet she asserts she wants an open relationship for her but she wants a life partner she won’t have to share. Not seeing the contradiction she even goes deeper into it.

She develops a lesbian relationship with the producer Sarah, thus getting her mother by transference and thus demonstrating a male Oedipus complex, which is at least difficult to assume in a world where a man is a man and a woman a woman. And she does not want to share Sarah. In the same way, after his military service George, the Greek sailor, comes to New York for three months and she has a relationship with him that she wants to be exclusive on his side while she is having a lesbian relationship with her mother-transference that she wants exclusive on Sarah’s side, but she states thus she does not want George and Sarah to have a relationship of their own to fulfill what this character calls a love triangle, and she does not see she is reproducing the broken relationship between her own parents with her in between. She goes very far in denying George any real position: she had suggested him to come along as a technician on a mission in the USSR but she rejects him at the last minute. Then she lets him go back to Greece at the end of his three month visa. And at the same time starts developing a non-physical relation with Sarah, in other words putting herself on a punishing diet as for intercourse.

Later on she will finally marry George but that will be when she meets the third Sarah (Sarah is the triple goddess in a way, Demeter, Drimidri as she is known in my village), when she discovers George Gurdjieff, the mixed Russian, Armenian and Greek (she is fascinated by ternary patterns) mystic philosopher. Note of course the parallel with George her lover. The third Sarah will be a meditation guide who will lead her into introspecting herself along Gurdjieff’s lines. I will not discuss these lines and the writing in this book that then borrows metaphors and other allegories from this Gurdjieff, because that is not the stake of this section of the book. I am interested in the character. She finally can marry George when she has met another George that will become her spiritual mentor (at a very vast distance, a father transference anyway) under the guidance of the third Sarah and the main trend will be to get into normal, meaning acceptable for society, patterns. That character is fascinated if not mesmerized and obnubilated by these patterns, like the house of four rooms, forgetting that then the house is a fifth entity, or the allegory of the horse, the carriage, the driver and the master, forgetting again that this pattern does not exist if there is not an intention, a destination, a target, a goal. No one sits in a train if the train is not going somewhere. In fact I would suggest this character should get in touch with Kenneth Burke and his “Grammar of Motives” in which he gives detail about his “pentad”: the act (horse), the scene (carriage), the agent (driver), the agency (master) and the purpose (missing completely). Gurdjieff is only contemplating an inert inside world that goes nowhere and turns on itself like a top or a prayer mill.

And that’s exactly where we meet that character at the end.

“I’m on a spiritual path. There’s no gender on the path, but I am a New Woman. I have a conscious awareness of wholeness merging with the Divine feminine creative impulse.”

She negates “gender” and at the same time asserts she is the “New Woman” who should be genderless, which is maybe in agreement with her “conscious awareness of wholeness,” but then she concludes on exactly the contrary and asserts the “Divine feminine creative impulse.” In other words she, as a New Woman can do absolutely what she wants because it is creative whereas of course George will have to be subservient and obedient because he can’t have that creativity that is both divine and feminine.

I just wonder what this character thinks she is. That character is going to argue she is compensating for centuries of subservience and humiliation on the side of women. I would say at least OVER-compensating.

Then we can of course thank the author for exposing such crazy stances that would lead anyone to doom and catastrophe since genderless is essentially in that character’s logic the negation of masculinity, of the male, of the father, of the lover, of the brother, of the husband. Let them, men, satisfy their selfish carnality among themselves. We, New Women, will select those who will be authorized to subserviently and obediently serve us. They would inject us with millions of Kurzweilian nanobots to keep control of us, Old Men.

That world is frightening.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was approached by the author Melissa Burch to review her book “My Journey Through War and Peace: Explorations of a Young Filmmaker, Feminist and Spiritual Seeker“. She sent me an advanced print copy on my request, and I wasn’t prepared for how much I’d like it.

my-journey-through-war-and-peace-explorations-of-a-young-filmmaker-feminist-and-spiritual-seekerPublished on 1 March 2016, the book opens with her, 21, waking up in a room with seven bearded men in Afghanistan. I start wondering how I could possibly continue since I am not particularly interested in the horrors of war or politics. Intrigued by how young she was, I continued and was soon to be drawn into Burch’s world where she worked as a war journalist for BBC, CBS, and other networks. I couldn’t put the book down until I finished reading it, in one day.

I noticed how I perked up whenever there was any hint of sex and romance, and indeed, there was sex – including with an Afghan commander (whom I like to fantasize was tall, dark and handsome). I was triggered when I read how she was sexually harassed (and conceded to sex – though I would call it rape) in another separate incident, since I was sexually harassed two weeks ago. I found myself tearing up – horrified, yet appreciated her raw, honest and vulnerable account on the same breath.

In the book, she returned to Afghanistan thrice and we see how she matures over the momentous decade. I like to believe that readers, including myself, would evolve alongside Burch – from becoming more curious about world politics, the inner workings of the media, to the power of a group of people working towards greater consciousness. This is more than one epic adventure story, as it contains stories interwoven from her childhood and adult relationships back in city living. It is wonderful to witness reconciliation and healing with her parents, and her own spirituality awakening and unfolding.

From traveling with the mujahideen, filming an attack on a Soviet convoy, and climbing 14,000-foot mountains in the Hindu Kushshe, Burch is one extraordinary woman. Her team was one of the first documentary crews allowed in the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, and she was featured in a New York Times story about her time in Afghanistan.

Burch writes in the final pages, “My journey took me through war and peace, searching to integrate the male and female aspects of myself, so I could fulfill my individual human destiny. I know a life well-lived is a life lived from the inside out, directed from an inner knowing, full of mistakes, hard times and joy.”

Indeed, she’s led a well-lived life. Read this book and be moved by her humanness. This is a woman who is ahead of her time and worth celebrating and knowing.

[Jackie Wayman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned a lot about Gurdjieff's Work. Enjoyed the fresh ideas of this young woman's search.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, and inspirational journey of a young women trying to juggle her busy career, love life and family life. Finding peace in the chaos.

[Cary Morton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book directly from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.

My Journey Through War and Peace by Melissa Burch was a strange adventure through the life and career of a young war journalist. The story explored the ups and downs of this young woman’s life, her career in journalism, her experiences with feminism and sexuality, and ultimately her spiritualism. I found it to be an interesting story of disillusionment, understanding, fear, and ultimately a sort of peace as she worked her way through her early career and relationships and tried to ultimately come to terms with who she was and what she wanted out of the different aspects of her life. It wasn’t an easy tale—there were many terrifying moments, questionable choices, and compromises that were to be made, but it was certainly interesting.

To be frank, it wasn’t the type of story I normally read. I very rarely delve into non-fiction and certainly not memoirs, and I can’t say that it’s something I would pick up and re-read, but I am glad to have read it. If you’re interested in autobiographical memoirs dealing with some pretty heavy topics, I think there’s a good chance you might find this a really interesting read.