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Page After Page
The author, a photo-journalist, describes his experiences in Vietnam and Northern California
Paperback
First published November 1, 1988
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About the author
Tim Page
21 books12 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Tim Page (25 May 1944 – 24 August 2022) was an English photographer who made his name during the Vietnam War and based in Brisbane, Australia.
Page was a photojournalist in Sth East Asia and was injured in action four times, from 1967 to 1969.
During Page's recovery, back in the US, in the spring of 1970 he learnt of the capture of his best friend, roommate and fellow photo-journalist Sean Flynn in Cambodia. Throughout the 1970s and 80s he tried to discover Flynn's fate and final resting place and wanted to erect a memorial to all those in the media who either were killed or went missing in the Vietnam wars. This led him to found the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation and was the genesis for the book Requiem, co-edited with fellow Vietnam War photographer Horst Faas. Page's quest to clear up the mystery of Flynn's fate continued; as late as 2009 he was back in Cambodia, still searching for the site of Flynn's remains.
Page's book Requiem contains photographs taken by all of the photographers and journalists killed during the Vietnamese wars against the Japanese, French and Americans. Requiem has become since early 2000 a traveling photographic exhibition placed under the custody of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. The exhibition has been presented in Vietnam's War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Hanoi, Lausanne, and London. In 2011, it was selected to be the main exhibition of the Month of Photography Asia in Singapore.
Page is the subject of many documentaries and two films, and is the author of many books. He lived in Brisbane, Australia and no longer covers wars. He was Adjunct Professor of Photojournalism at Griffith University. - Wikipedia
Tim Page (25 May 1944 – 24 August 2022) was an English photographer who made his name during the Vietnam War and based in Brisbane, Australia.
Page was a photojournalist in Sth East Asia and was injured in action four times, from 1967 to 1969.
During Page's recovery, back in the US, in the spring of 1970 he learnt of the capture of his best friend, roommate and fellow photo-journalist Sean Flynn in Cambodia. Throughout the 1970s and 80s he tried to discover Flynn's fate and final resting place and wanted to erect a memorial to all those in the media who either were killed or went missing in the Vietnam wars. This led him to found the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation and was the genesis for the book Requiem, co-edited with fellow Vietnam War photographer Horst Faas. Page's quest to clear up the mystery of Flynn's fate continued; as late as 2009 he was back in Cambodia, still searching for the site of Flynn's remains.
Page's book Requiem contains photographs taken by all of the photographers and journalists killed during the Vietnamese wars against the Japanese, French and Americans. Requiem has become since early 2000 a traveling photographic exhibition placed under the custody of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. The exhibition has been presented in Vietnam's War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Hanoi, Lausanne, and London. In 2011, it was selected to be the main exhibition of the Month of Photography Asia in Singapore.
Page is the subject of many documentaries and two films, and is the author of many books. He lived in Brisbane, Australia and no longer covers wars. He was Adjunct Professor of Photojournalism at Griffith University. - Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 26, 2024
I really did enjoy this, though I will admit that at times I did not have a clue what this man was on about. What I did understand was excellent, but it has to be said that Page has a very unique writing style that can on occasion be absolutely indecipherable. Somehow I was not overly surprised by this fact.
This is a remarkable account of a remarkable life, a tribute to a time gone by, and one that makes me intensely jealous. The comparative ease of such travels, the sense of freedom and adventure that was so accessible and even encouraged among the youth of Page's day, is no more; this book pays tribute to those experiences and honestly makes me feel that something incredible has been lost. That isn't to say that nobody can set out and travel across the world now, but it sure as hell is more complicated, expensive, and bureaucratic, and in some places likely tied up with impossible legal requirements. I'm happy to have read such a fascinating account, but boy do I wish I was living it rather than just reading about it.
There's a conversational honesty in this book which is impressive, considering that Page openly admits to not being the greatest of guys on multiple occasions. Damaged by the things he witnessed in Vietnam, frustrated by his injuries, and left at a loss as to what to do with himself upon re-entering the normal world, he openly acknowledges everything from drug abuse to wife-beating. He is certainly not trying to disguise the fact that his experiences have left some things in his personality to be desired; he explains but never excuses. It's the kind of honesty you need to make a book like this worthwhile, and I'll be interested to read his other books and see how this one fits in to the overall story. It's difficult to know what to make of him by the end, which I think is the hallmark of a good memoir -- nobody is straightforward, nobody can be put simply into one box or another, and if you come out of a memoir with a solid and uncomplicated idea of somebody, I doubt adequate justice has been done.
This is a remarkable account of a remarkable life, a tribute to a time gone by, and one that makes me intensely jealous. The comparative ease of such travels, the sense of freedom and adventure that was so accessible and even encouraged among the youth of Page's day, is no more; this book pays tribute to those experiences and honestly makes me feel that something incredible has been lost. That isn't to say that nobody can set out and travel across the world now, but it sure as hell is more complicated, expensive, and bureaucratic, and in some places likely tied up with impossible legal requirements. I'm happy to have read such a fascinating account, but boy do I wish I was living it rather than just reading about it.
There's a conversational honesty in this book which is impressive, considering that Page openly admits to not being the greatest of guys on multiple occasions. Damaged by the things he witnessed in Vietnam, frustrated by his injuries, and left at a loss as to what to do with himself upon re-entering the normal world, he openly acknowledges everything from drug abuse to wife-beating. He is certainly not trying to disguise the fact that his experiences have left some things in his personality to be desired; he explains but never excuses. It's the kind of honesty you need to make a book like this worthwhile, and I'll be interested to read his other books and see how this one fits in to the overall story. It's difficult to know what to make of him by the end, which I think is the hallmark of a good memoir -- nobody is straightforward, nobody can be put simply into one box or another, and if you come out of a memoir with a solid and uncomplicated idea of somebody, I doubt adequate justice has been done.
January 14, 2023
What a fun book. I've read Michael Herr's Dispatches and Perry Deane Young's Two of the Missing, and in both Tim Page stood out as an incredible force of personality. Reading his own account of his life is quite the experience, both because he's lived an interesting life and because of his distinct writing style. I found myself reading this quite slowly compared to my usual clip, but the writing didn't get in the way of the story but rather added to it.
But I really appreciate his matter-of-fact way of writing; there was no need to stop and reflect on how he felt here or what it was like there, because it all came through in the way that he tells it. The chapters set in Vietnam stand out, and I enjoyed reading about his professional life and just what it was like to be there, some of the more dangerous experiences that he had. Particularly, his account of being strafed while at sea stands out as one of the stronger points in the book; that whole section had this incredibly eerie quality to it, really translating the sense of danger and the impact that it had on him.
Although known for the work that he did in Vietnam, Page's life was very interesting long before that and continued to be afterwards. Having myself been raised in a society that allegedly values experience and adventure, but in actuality is ridiculously risk-adverse and obsessed with keeping its own order, Page's story and his attitude towards life are incredibly refreshing. Reading this has done a good job to highlight just how true it is, that the past is a different country, and how much has changed in such a short period of time.
But I really appreciate his matter-of-fact way of writing; there was no need to stop and reflect on how he felt here or what it was like there, because it all came through in the way that he tells it. The chapters set in Vietnam stand out, and I enjoyed reading about his professional life and just what it was like to be there, some of the more dangerous experiences that he had. Particularly, his account of being strafed while at sea stands out as one of the stronger points in the book; that whole section had this incredibly eerie quality to it, really translating the sense of danger and the impact that it had on him.
Although known for the work that he did in Vietnam, Page's life was very interesting long before that and continued to be afterwards. Having myself been raised in a society that allegedly values experience and adventure, but in actuality is ridiculously risk-adverse and obsessed with keeping its own order, Page's story and his attitude towards life are incredibly refreshing. Reading this has done a good job to highlight just how true it is, that the past is a different country, and how much has changed in such a short period of time.
January 21, 2025
Is there a more dangerous profession than war-correspondant/photographer?
I'm not even sure test pilot is more dangerous.
In the early 80s I attended a Tim Page presentation at the ICA in London. Page wasn't the greatest public speaker, looking and sounding well-out-of-sorts, particularly with the range of questions asked of him. As a writer he was...rubbish. His efforts to write reports resulted, as he mentions himself, in more queries from editors longer than his draft articles.
Page After Page, his autobiography is one of those rare books where the writing gets worse as it progresses. Pages' account of his childhood, growing-up in the late 1940s and 50s is fabulous, not least when he relates how, as a 14-year-old, he toured Europe's Low Countries by bike - unsupervised by adults, something unthinkable in today's world.
Likewise his leaving home with a pregnant girlfriend (the resultant twins never mentioned later) and gradual travels east into South-East Asia, with what was a brand-new VW Camper, but which was eventually a hopeless wreak. From Burma into Laos, and eventually into Vietnam. The accounts of the battles and the frenetic social extremes (drugs, prostitutes, STD's) are well told, not least the terrifying 'blue-on-blue' attack on a sea-going riverine monitor, supposedly the safest means of combat in Vietnam, which left him wounded.
Things went downhill for Page when he was severely injured after stepping on a landmine (or rather an artillery shell) which ended his combat photography. For some reason though his writing changes, almost as if he was echoing the damage done to him. Clipped sentences, paragraphs of equal length and lots of jargon make the book, after its centre section of selected photos, difficult-to-read with quite the same enthusiasm as the first half.
In-the-end though Page After Page emphasised what we knew already; he was never a writer, but what a photographer!
I'm not even sure test pilot is more dangerous.
In the early 80s I attended a Tim Page presentation at the ICA in London. Page wasn't the greatest public speaker, looking and sounding well-out-of-sorts, particularly with the range of questions asked of him. As a writer he was...rubbish. His efforts to write reports resulted, as he mentions himself, in more queries from editors longer than his draft articles.
Page After Page, his autobiography is one of those rare books where the writing gets worse as it progresses. Pages' account of his childhood, growing-up in the late 1940s and 50s is fabulous, not least when he relates how, as a 14-year-old, he toured Europe's Low Countries by bike - unsupervised by adults, something unthinkable in today's world.
Likewise his leaving home with a pregnant girlfriend (the resultant twins never mentioned later) and gradual travels east into South-East Asia, with what was a brand-new VW Camper, but which was eventually a hopeless wreak. From Burma into Laos, and eventually into Vietnam. The accounts of the battles and the frenetic social extremes (drugs, prostitutes, STD's) are well told, not least the terrifying 'blue-on-blue' attack on a sea-going riverine monitor, supposedly the safest means of combat in Vietnam, which left him wounded.
Things went downhill for Page when he was severely injured after stepping on a landmine (or rather an artillery shell) which ended his combat photography. For some reason though his writing changes, almost as if he was echoing the damage done to him. Clipped sentences, paragraphs of equal length and lots of jargon make the book, after its centre section of selected photos, difficult-to-read with quite the same enthusiasm as the first half.
In-the-end though Page After Page emphasised what we knew already; he was never a writer, but what a photographer!
April 20, 2019
Tim Page led a life typical of many in the 1960s. He visualized life from a totally different perspective than his parents. Raised in England, he dreamed of world adventure. He left home at around 16 and rambled for a while before his stint in Vietnam where he ended up as a photojournalist. This can be a difficult book to digest. There is much about drugs, women and details of war. A great friend he met in country was Sean Flynn, son of actor Errol Flynn, who disappeared in Cambodia along with Dana Stone. His search for Flynn continued until recently with no result. I've read other books by Page and I like his writing style. He's a skilled story teller. I met him some years back and can say he pretty much matches his character. I certainly recommend a read. Also, if you can find a copy of "Frankie's House" - it's worth the search - it's based on this book. Made as a mini series in Australia and never released to play on American CD players. It's on UTube but the last I saw very messily dubbed.
June 7, 2020
Re-reading of a book first read in 1990 - even the same physical copy after relocation from Australia to the USA, round several different states in the US, to NZ and then back to NY - and it only gets better with age. You couldn't make up the story of Tim Page's teens and 20s. Leaving the UK at 16 and wandering overland first in Europe and then through Asia, eventually washing up in Laos and from there to Vietnam in time to record the war from early US involvement on through the full blown conflict. Essential reading for anyone interested in the overland trail of the 1960s and the Vietnam war. Highly recommended. (Purchased in Australia in 1990.)
September 19, 2022
This is a rollercoaster of an autobiography- fascinating to anyone who has explored Asia and knows something of the Vietnam War. This is the story of a mad, but brave youth with a thirst for life who ended up in the craziest arena of modern times - and whose hard-won photography helped to document it. A fizzing, brilliant, explosive story which shows just how scarily unpredictable life can be if you let go of the controls (which Page undoubtedly did many times!)
February 15, 2019
Fascinating and unapologetic. Tim Page stands out in his viewpoint and his survival.
September 24, 2016
The phrase, “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” is found nowhere in Tim Page’s remarkable account, PAGE AFTER PAGE: MEMOIRS OF A WAR-TORN PHOTOGRAPHER; but that was surely the author’s guiding principle of life during his years covering the war in Vietnam. If Michael Herr’s DISPATCHES may be the definitive account of a soldier’s experience in Vietnam, then Page’s tale is the definitive account of a photojournalist’s experience in combat. “Tomorrow we die” had very literal meaning. And I do stress the word “combat.” For Page was nearly legendary amongst foreign correspondents and photojournalists for his readiness to embed himself in the thick of combat, over and over and over, getting wounded several times, the last quite severely. Still, it’s hard to say whether the combat or the drugs contributed more to his ending up being war-torn.
PAP is written in the style of Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD; but it is not fiction; and it’s a quantum step beyond Kerouac, though Hunter S. Thompson, whom Page knew, might have been a more direct influence.
For anyone interested in the 1960s élan, or the Vietnam War, this is a book not to be missed.
PAP is written in the style of Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD; but it is not fiction; and it’s a quantum step beyond Kerouac, though Hunter S. Thompson, whom Page knew, might have been a more direct influence.
For anyone interested in the 1960s élan, or the Vietnam War, this is a book not to be missed.
August 2, 2019
This is an autobiography and an account of the Vietnam war, told by one of its most acclaimed photographers whose pictures have previously been published in "Time Life" magazine and "Tim Page's "NAM". He was wounded seriously on several occasions, twice being declared dead on arrival at hospital - he is described as not caring about dangers, only pictures. When the war was over, Page moved to the West Coast of America where he became involved with The Doors and the post-war counter-culture.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews