Fighting Words: The War Correspondents of World War Two - Hardcover

Collier, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312038283 ISBN 13: 9780312038281

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1990

Synopsis

Giving a taste of the foreign journalist's life during World War II, a war correspondent divulges firsthand accounts of stories that were originally deemed likely to cause "alarm and despondency" and therefore never came to press until now

About this title

From Library Journal

Collier, who was a British correspondent for two years in World War II, tells the story of the world press's role in the most extensively reported war in history. Of particular interest is the censorship the governments and military placed upon the reporters and broadcasters; many of the war's biggest stories were uncovered but never reported, or reported much after the fact. Collier chronicles the journeys and works of Martha Gellhorn, Margaret Bourke-White, A.J. Liebling, Clare Booth, Harrison Salisbury, Quentin Reynolds, and Edward R. Murrow. He also relates the story of Ernie Pyle, the all-American boy from Main Street whose daily columns during the war became standard reading for most Americans. Collier's work covers a lot of ground, possibly too much. For more personal accounts, A.M. Sperber's Murrow: His Life and Times ( LJ 7/86) and Martha Gellhorn's The View from the Ground (Atlantic Monthly Pr. , 1988) are better choices. Still, an excellent overview.
- Melinda Stivers Leach, Precision Editorial Svces., Wondervu, Col.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly

Although Collier ( The Rainbow People ) treats only British and American journalists, the book is nonetheless an admirably complete survey of WW II war correspondents and their work. All of the stars are here: Ernie Pyle, Quentin Reynolds, Martha Gellhorn (for part of the war known as Mrs. Ernest Hemingway), and photographers Margaret Bourke-White and Robert Capa, as well as many lesser-knowns. Collier discusses the problems of censorship, often conducted by literal-minded, unbending military bureaucrats, and the difficulty of informing those at home about unpalatable truths. Burn-out, too, became an obstacle as the war continued and correspondents witnessed more than their share of misery and death. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0312038283
• ISBN 13: 9780312038281
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 230