Guardian Review

This collection of 94 BBC broadcasts is absorbing in its breadth, compassion and economy of style. The editor has produced FOOC ("as we call it") for a dozen years and he emphasises how much the journalists appreciate the chance to write at relative length and to fill in characters, background and history. They do it superbly, the best pieces intertwining description, anecdote and politics to paint a tiny but revealing picture of a far-off place. An eagle crashes through the bedroom window of our naked man in Zambia, prompting comic attempts to release it as well as reflections on the local fear of omens; in eastern Germany we hear how Herbert gardened his way through the turbulent last century; in Beijing we visit what is said to be China's only specialist penis restaurant. Then a tour of the derelict Kabul hospital, and a polite inquiry as to whether any help is on its way, reduced me to tears. The tales of massacres and poverty, brutality and courage leave you drained - and awed by the people battling on despite it all to build a life. Caption: article-Revp22f.1 This collection of 94 BBC broadcasts is absorbing in its breadth, compassion and economy of style. The editor has produced FOOC ("as we call it") for a dozen years and he emphasises how much the journalists appreciate the chance to write at relative length and to fill in characters, background and history. - Judith Rice.