In the Canadian media landscape, it’s a rare journalist who views reporting as a selfless calling that subjugates ego in favour of a well-reported story. That’s why Nahlah Ayed’s new memoir is a refreshing take on the life of an overseas correspondent in some of the world’s most volatile hot spots. Unlike colleagues who file stories from the rooftops of luxury hotels, Ayed immerses herself in the communities she covers, meeting the people, learning the customs, and striving to understand the cultures that usually form a distant backdrop to breaking news about the latest Iraqi car bomb or Israeli air strike.

Ayed attributes her intense curiosity to a bifurcated upbringing that took her from a typical early childhood in Winnipeg to formative years in a Palestinian refugee camp. Her observations and questions about two distinctly different societies provoked her combined fascination and frustration with the ambiguities of the Middle East, an obsession that would suit her well when, in 2002, she dropped everything to take up a post as a foreign correspondent for the CBC.

A high achiever – with two master’s degrees and a B.Sc. in genetics – Ayed’s all-consuming work ethic is apparent in the care and attention to detail throughout this book, which focuses on her coverage of wars and uprisings in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. She occasionally inserts herself into the story, offering brief glimpses of terrifying incidents in which she is almost killed in an angry Iraqi crowd or seeks to get home safely during a white-knuckle drive through a series of Egyptian checkpoints.

Ayed admits to suffering fainting spells and nightmares from the constant barrage of violence. But the lure of a region undergoing the promise of major change means putting aside personal comfort and stability to pursue the stories of ordinary people who, by occupying Tahrir Square or downtown Beirut, are trying desperately to end the cycle of repression and hopelessness that marks so many of their lives.

By no means a comprehensive overview of the region, A Thousand Farewells is nonetheless a valuable street-level view that doesn’t boast of big names interviewed or famous company kept. Rather, this genuinely interesting individual dedicated to no-nonsense coverage of a difficult part of the world offers readers a good narrative that recalls an age when the substance of journalists’ work took precedence over their well-coiffed personas.