On the Road to Suchitoto

In this powerful, moving, and at times, harrowing memoir of his experience in El Salvador, photojournalist Julian Harrison goes far beyond a mere journalistic account of his adventures to present a brutal portrait of the day-to-day terror of documenting El Salvador's civil war. While many reporters and photographers sat behind desks or crowded the bar at the Camino Real, relying on U.S. embassy handouts and the courage of Salvadoran reporters, Harrison drove his Galant Muvva all over the country, responding instantly to where the bullets were flying. With his taut, compelling narrative, Harrison explores what happens when journalists "grovel in the trough of war" and how one can become addicted to covering combat. He describes the condition as getting "sucked in." For him and the others, documenting warfare with stills and video became a kind of narcotic addiction. The adrenaline rush, coupled with the acute need to scoop the competition, became the journalistic equivalent of shooting up. His friend and fellow journalist John Newhagen probably summed it up best, "A lot of people worried about Julian. He was always out there shooting bang-bang. He was pushing the envelope pretty hard."
On the Road to Suchitoto is classic war reportage that takes you on a roller-coaster of "journeys through the killing ground." So climb into the Galant Muvva, buckle up, and come along for the ride.