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Shooting Vietnam: The War By Its Military Photographers
What was it like to be a military combat photographer in the most photographed war in history — the Vietnam War? Shooting Vietnam takes you there as you read the firsthand accounts and view the hundreds of photographs by men who lived the war through the lens of a camera. They documented everything from the horror of combat to the people and culture of a land they suddenly found themselves immersed in. Some even juggled cameras with rifles and grenade launchers as they fought to survive while carrying out their assignments to record the war. “Shooting Vietnam” also finally brings recognition to these unheralded military combat photographers in Vietnam that documented the brutal, unpopular, and futile war.
Firsthand accounts and photographs by military photographers in Vietnam from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, Shooting Vietnam puts the reader right alongside these men as they struggle to document the war and stay alive while doing it — although some didn’t survive. The cameras around their necks often shared space with a rifle or grenade launcher that enabled them to stay alive while performing their assigned military duties, killing, if necessary, to survive.
Often, during a brief respite from trudging through swamps and rice paddies or jumping from a chopper into a hot landing zone, they would wander the streets of villages or even downtown Saigon, curiously photographing a people and a culture so strange and different to them. It is these photographs, of a kinder, more personal nature, removed from the horror and death of war that they also share with the reader.
The accounts in this book come from young men thrust into a conflict half way around the world, and all who had their own unique perspective on the war. Some were seasoned photographers before the military, others had only recently held a camera for the first time.
Firsthand accounts and photographs by military photographers in Vietnam from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, Shooting Vietnam puts the reader right alongside these men as they struggle to document the war and stay alive while doing it — although some didn’t survive. The cameras around their necks often shared space with a rifle or grenade launcher that enabled them to stay alive while performing their assigned military duties, killing, if necessary, to survive.
Often, during a brief respite from trudging through swamps and rice paddies or jumping from a chopper into a hot landing zone, they would wander the streets of villages or even downtown Saigon, curiously photographing a people and a culture so strange and different to them. It is these photographs, of a kinder, more personal nature, removed from the horror and death of war that they also share with the reader.
The accounts in this book come from young men thrust into a conflict half way around the world, and all who had their own unique perspective on the war. Some were seasoned photographers before the military, others had only recently held a camera for the first time.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published December 27, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 20, 2019
I must thank #Netgalley and #PenandSword for letting me read this wonderful story about a different view of war, that of a photographer. I don't really know why but I am very interested in this particular war. This is a well told story about before, during and after the time spent in Vietnam. I got to know a new side of the troops involved and got to see some great pictures. For fans of military history I really recommend this work.
May 11, 2020
I was pleased to find this book, as I was researching the Vietnam War at the time it came on special. I served with a number of Vietnam veterans during my own time in the Australian Defence Force, but Shooting Vietnam gave me the American perspective. Kudos to the authors, who had the courage to revisit their frightening past! Thank you for showing us both the awful and beautiful aspects of life in Vietnam during the war.
August 7, 2019
Shooting Vietnam is a interesting and informative book. It is well written and emotional. The author really takes us into the story and we get the since of the emotional impact.
September 11, 2019
A must read. This is not just a great read, it is a journey and I cannot recommend it enough! As the daughter of a Vietnam Vet, it touched me in many ways.
May 22, 2024
Very good. Put together by 2 Vietnam war photographers. Be aware that the last chapter is very graphic. Could be triggering.
January 29, 2023
A fascinating and unique look at the brutal life of a combat photographer during the Vietnam war. A little repetitive and overly long in places, this is a truly damning and harrowing account of bearing witness to and documenting some terrible atrocities. The importance of these men's jobs should never be underestimated or forgotten.
April 9, 2023
Very insightful
Insightful, engaging, honest and well-written. Great day to day accounts of photographers and lab personal in a war that few people can understand. I especially liked the ethical discussion about the pictures that brought the my lay massacre out into the open.
Insightful, engaging, honest and well-written. Great day to day accounts of photographers and lab personal in a war that few people can understand. I especially liked the ethical discussion about the pictures that brought the my lay massacre out into the open.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews