I don’t read a lot of non-fiction but I love a good memoir.

The book I’m recommending today I discovered in a roundabout way through a travel podcast that I started listening to after the new year: Travel With Rick Steves.

Steves is an American travel writer who focuses on Europe and has hosted a PBS travel show. He encourages expanding your travels past the most popular landmarks to immerse yourself in local culture.

I love his calming voice and although I won’t likely get the chance to spend “Christmas in Bulgaria” or travel to many/most of the specific spots he discusses, each episode is full of interesting history and cultural information.

One episode I listened to recently (I am playing catch up because I just discovered the podcast) had the guest Nicholas D. Kristof who I am familiar with from his columns in The New York Times. This particular episodes topic was “Fabulous Food in Paris” (episode 761 from 7/19/2024) but they also talked about his new book (released in May 2024) Chasing Hope: A Reporters Life.

Sometimes I get bogged down with non-fiction but this format was shorter chapters that tell one story at a time.

He starts with his dad’s immigration to America (someone helped him and that’s why Kristof still tries to pay it forward) to more recently covering Trump. He has worked as reporter since 1984, traveling and reporting from around the world in the most harrowing of situations.

A native of rural Oregon, Kristof also tells stories of his childhood and how the kids on his bus fared later in life (mostly not good).

The book is a detailed look into a reporters life, including the drama and behind the scenes of working for a major newspaper, and also how this has changed over time from the “golden age” of foreign correspondents that he was initiated into (large expense accounts, luxurious accommodations) being long gone. My only complaint is that there is a lot of reporter name dropping which I had to just ignore as it was too much to keep up with.

A lot of modern world history is covered in this book, and much that I admittedly had forgotten the details of. Overall, this was a great book to start the new year, and like the podcast that led me to it, entertaining and informative, while also showing that even Kristof who has personally witnessed the worst of humanity still has optimism.