Dispatches from the Front: News Accounts of American Wars, 1776-1991 (Henry Holt Reference Book) - Hardcover

Lande, Nathaniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805036644 ISBN 13: 9780805036640

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co, 1995

Synopsis

Featuring eyewitness accounts from war correspondents, innocent bystanders, and press pool journalists on the front lines of every major war in America's history, a collection of "you are there" stories includes historical background, period photographs, and illustrations.

About this title

About the Author

Nathaniel Lande has held appointments as professor of journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and Trinity College.

Reviews

Here is a first-rate gathering of war reportage from throughout U.S. history, and Lande's exhaustive compilation is not only fascinating reading but a great example of the ongoing bond, albeit an often reluctant one, between soldiers and the press. Early accounts of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 are written in the stilted, anticonversational style of the early years of this country, but are no less harrowing than modern-day journalism. Civil War years see the emergence of the correspondent as the reader's alter ego at the center of action, notably in a piece by Henry Villard of the New York Herald that headlined the reporter's name as an eyewitness of the First Battle of Bull Run. The Spanish-American War introduces Richard Harding Davis, the first nationally known war correspondent, and Red Badge of Courage author Stephen Crane seeing his first action ever with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. World War I entries include an account of the firing-squad execution of spy Mata Hari, and a large section dedicated to World War II features a raging General Patton scolding correspondents for their glumness at Allied losses in the Battle of the Bulge, and the introduction of the granddaddy of all field correspondents, Ernie Pyle. Extensive chapters outlining battles and personalities in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War complete this superb and never dull collection of real-life heroes. Joe Collins

The Persian Gulf war revived interest in the art of war reporting. Readers who want to compare the journalism of the Gulf with that of nine other American wars can do so courtesy of this compilation. Lande, a journalist and publishing executive, has chosen nearly 90 works dating back to the Revolutionary War, by such familiar recent names as Ernie Pyle, John Hersey, Edward R. Murrow, David Halberstam, and Vietnam-era Peter Arnett. The writing is often poignant, and not all of it takes place on the battlefield. Inevitably, some potency is lost when it is removed from the realm of day-to-day journalism. The collection will be best suited to libraries with significant holdings in military history and journalism, and could profitably be read in conjunction with a critical, analytical work such as Phillip Knightley's The First Casualty (LJ 10/15/75).
Bruce D. Rosenstein, USA Today Lib., Arlington, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805036644
• ISBN 13: 9780805036640
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416