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Under Fire: Great Photographers and Writers in Vietnam Hardcover – Bargain Price, April 26, 2005

by Catherine Leroy (Author), John Mccain (Foreword)

4.5 3 ratings

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In Under Fire, one of the most daring combat photographers of the Vietnam War, Catherine Leroy, pairs her work and that of other acclaimed photographers-–among them Larry Burrows, Henri Huet, and Don McCullin–with moving, evocative essays from an equally stellar roster of writers, including David Halberstam, Philip Caputo, Neil Sheehan, and Tim O’Brien.

Captured in the collected photographs is the full emotional spectrum of war. Through the camera’s eye, we see the war from both the combatants’ perspective and that of the Vietnamese civilians, for whom the conflict was a constant and horrendous backdrop. Some of the photographs are well known, verging on the iconic, others are less well circulated but no less evocative. All make indelible impressions on the viewer–perhaps more so now than when they were taken, thirty to fifty years ago.

The essays accompanying the photographs tell us about what happened to the photos’ subjects, both when the shutter captured them and since; about the challenges facing the photographers in the heat of battle; and how, in some cases, the photographers changed history by bringing Vietnam’s senseless violence to ordinary Americans’ doorsteps, thereby helping turn public opinion against the war.

Published to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Under Fireis a potent, often poignant reminder of the men and women whose work helped forge the collective memory of a generation.

Print length

192 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Random House
Publication date

April 26, 2005
Dimensions

11.12 x 0.8 x 8.83 inches
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One of the few positive legacies of the war in Vietnam is that it spawned a notable and highly accomplished group of American novelists, journalists and photographers, many of them veterans of that divisive conflict. Leroy, one of the most accomplished of Vietnam War photographers, pairs poignant, insightful, brief essays with groupings of evocative war photos. All are from the cream of the crop: writers include Tim O'Brien, Philip Caputo, Wayne Karlin and Neil Sheehan; among the photojournalists are Larry Burrows, Tim Page, Henri Huet, Nick Ut, Dana Stone and Dick Swenson. The result is a powerful visual and verbal record of the war, most often on the ground from the American fighting man's point of view. Many of the essays appeared with individual photos in a series of articles that appeared in recent years in the VVA Veteran, the newspaper published by Vietnam Veterans of America. "What the series of photographs reveals [about American soldiers] is a great and contradictory truth about war," Karlin observes. "It's obscene and it's noble. Its obscenity grows from their nobility, from the waste of so many who would and did give so much." (Apr. 26)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Catherine Leroy was twenty-one years old when she set out from her native France to Vietnam in 1966. In less than two years, her intrepid reporting made her one of the war’s most published photographers. In 1967, she became the only journalist to partake in a combat jump. Later she was wounded with a marine unit in the DMZ. Leroy was captured by the North Vietnamese Army during the Tet offensive but managed to talk her way free. Leroy has won numerous photography prizes for her work in Vietnam and elsewhere, including the Robert Capa Award, of which she was the first female recipient, and the George Polk Award. Her latest project involves a series of Internet articles and photo exhibits on the war. She currently lives in California.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001SARDPG
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House (April 26, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 11.12 x 0.8 x 8.83 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #6,365,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,377 in Photojournalism (Books)
- #4,848 in Military History Pictorials
- #8,257 in Vietnam War History (Books)

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4.5 3 ratings

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GYHT

Worthy & Poignant

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2012

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This is a book of poetry after the fact. Paired with chapters written by writers, it's a nice concise way of remembering. I explored this book after getting Requiem (edited by Tim Page) - which alongside this, are truly fine books which capture the war and human condition in retrospect. Photographs capture Vietnam in a way that the movies never would - arresting the moment and capturing above all, the humanity and the spirit of those there. The Americans could never make sense of Vietnam until it was too late - just as the Vietnamese found themselves caught in a conflict that served no-one. Books like this capture the chaos, confusion and turmoil but in a poignant way.

Catherine Leroy has since passed on, but this book remains.

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Rudolf D. Gomez

Nam

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2012

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- Dear Customers who plan to purchase "Under Fire", These Photo's took me Back to Nam - Thank You Photograhers and Writers -

One person found this helpful

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Robert H. Cole

This is Reality Folks!

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2005

I first met Catherine Leroy on the Bien Hoa airfield as the 173D Airborne Brigade prepared for Operation Junction City, the only parachute assult of that war. A diminutive blonde French woman, barely in her twenties, Ms Leroy was tough as nails and "cute as a button". I managed to take a photograph of her rigged in her parachute and "armed" with a pair if Leika cameras just before we boarded our aircraft (see the insert inside the back of the dust cover). Cathe was a no nonsense professional then as she is now. She and her colleagues have done a magnificent job of portraying the reality of war. "Under Fire" is a must read, not only for veterans of all wars but, especially for those other souls who have not experienced the realities of combat. Through first rate up close and personal photography, with associated narrative and comment, Cathe and her "band of brothers" have brought "great dignity to what might otherwise be viewed as a vulgar brawl". "5 - Star"

18 people found this helpful

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