The Mammoth Book of War Correspondents (Mammoth Books) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786708662 ISBN 13: 9780786708666

Publisher: Carroll & Graf, 2001

Synopsis

War is hell. It is also suffering, courage, fear, nobility, depravity, honor, death. War in all its aspects, from the tragic to the horrific to the heroic, is vividly depicted in this riveting volume of dispatches by established authors like Stephen Crane, Rudyard Kipling, George Orwell, and Ernest Hemingway, who turned their literary hand to, respectively, the Spanish-American War, Boer War, Spanish Civil War, and D-Day 1944, as well as professional news correspondents like Ernie Pyle, Alan Moorehead, Peter Arnett, and John Hersey, who made something like art out of war reportage. Eyewitness accounts of other writers among the one hundred in this volume include William L. Shirer's on the surrender of the French in World War II, Edward R. Murrow's on the London Blitz, Alexander Werth's on the siege of Leningrad, and Martha Gellhorn's on the Battle of the Bulge. Found here, too, are David Halberstrom's Pulitzer Prize-winning piece on the coup against Diem, Seymour Hersh on the My Lai massacre, and John Pilger on the last day in Saigon. Not only did these men and women brave the dangers of war; they also combated often obstructive military officers and disingenuous politicians to get their story and to report the truth as they saw it. Beginning with William Howard Russell's reports from Crimea, which mark the birth of war reportage, and ending on the battle lines in Bosnia, here is war -- what it looks like, what it means, and how it has been fought for 150 years.

About this title

About the Author

Jon E Lewis is the editor of many Mammoth successes including The Mammoth Book of Life Before the Mast, The Mammoth Book of Soldiers' Stories, The Mammoth Book of Battles, The Mammoth Book of How it Happened and The Mammoth Book of True War Stories. He lives in Herefordshire with his partner and children.

From Library Journal

Journalists have been on the front lines since the invention of the telegraph in the 1840s. This fairly comprehensive collection highlights 150 years of war reportage, beginning with William Howard Russell's 1854 coverage of the war in the Crimea and ending with the battlefields of Bosnia and Chechnya. Lewis, who has also edited The Mammoth Book of True War and The Mammoth Book of War Diaries and Letters, has collected 100 pieces of war correspondence, arranged them chronologically, and given each an introduction ranging from one sentence to a short paragraph. The introduction to the book, however, is disappointingly brief. Lewis provides no information on how or why these pieces were selected, nor does he provide biographical notes for the lesser-known journalists who appear alongside such recognizable names as Rudyard Kipling, Ernest Hemingway, and Ernie Pyle. The value of this book is clearly its scope: while most collections of war correspondence focus on a specific war or journalist, this one offers selections from different wars. Recommended for comprehensive academic journalism collections and public libraries where the "Mammoth" series has circulated well. Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ. Lib., Washington, DC
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Carroll & Graf
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0786708662
• ISBN 13: 9780786708666
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512
• Editor: Lewis Jon E.