"Jim Foley had every reason not to go to Syria. He had already been held hostage once�44 days in Libya. He had solid job offers in America. He had a loving family. He understood Syria was a chaotic, unpredictable war zone. He knew that as a freelance journalist, he would have no support on the ground. But the story beckoned.
We know what happened next. As McCann writes, “A desert landscape. An orange jumpsuit. A man in black, only his eyes apparent. ‘A Message to America.’� The video of Foley’s 2014 beheading at the hands of ISIS represents “an empire wounded.�
But what unfolds in McCann’s new book—American Mother, coauthored with Jim’s mother, Diane—is beyond the scope of the imagination. And the story enters the world at a time when it’s so desperately needed.
Most war stories are about soldiers or refugees. But this is a story of someone 5,000 miles away from the conflict. Diane Foley is not your stereotypical hero. She’s a mom of five. She navigates a marriage that’s not always easy. She works as a nurse, guiding her family through financial struggles. Her story, indeed, is of the everyday American.
It would be easy to say that when Jim was captured, Diane “transformed� into an advocate: raising money for a potential ransom, flying to D.C. to lobby Congressmen, and gathering intelligence about Jim’s whereabouts. But, as McCann illuminates, Diane did not transform. Despite being thrust into a position of advocacy, she maintains her values, especially her religious faith.
Diane’s trust in God, and by extension her belief in humanity, leads to a shocking moment that bookends this biography. She meets Jim’s killer and, over many days in a Northern Virginia prison, hears his life story. She is not naive. She knows that Alexanda Kotey, despite his sweet talk, helped murder her son. But she still holds empathy in her heart. When another one of Jim’s killers was sentenced to life in prison, Diane recognized that he “had a mother too� and “lowered my head and said a prayer for her.�
I read the draft of American Mother about a year ago and have been thinking about it ever since. Even more so since October 7, when hostage-taking reentered the public consciousness. In the book, you’ll read an intimate portrait of the life of a hostage—the psychological torture of both detainees and their families. You’ll watch U.S. hostage policy change. You’ll see how truth is malleable, and how every side believes the facts are with them.
At a time when so many of us are doomscrolling our way through the ongoing heartbreak in the Middle East, I encourage you to pick up this book and engage in Diane Foley’s story.
If my endorsement isn’t enough, my mom’s favorite, Sting, says the book “will shake your soul out,� and accurately describes it as “a thriller, a memoir, a mystery; a portrait of forgiveness, and a literary song of grace� all wrapped into one."