Tim Page's Nam

The legendary photographer's classic book on Vietnam. Tim Page (b. 1944) has become part of the Vietnam War mythology, except that in his case the myths are reality. Twenty when he first arrived in Vietnam to cover the most controversial and convulsive war of modern times, he soon became identified with a particular "coo" attitude toward the war. And yet the images in this book, often captured in the most unfavorable circumstances, are glimpses into a reality that is sometimes appalling, sometimes grotesque, but always moving and human. Tim Page began his photographic career at the age of 18, covering the civil war in Laos and the activities of the Hanoi-backed guerillas in northeastern Thailand for United Press International. For the next five years, he worked largely on assignment for "Time-Life", covering the Six Day War from the Arab side in 1967, and the war in Vietnam for United Press International, the Associated Press and Paris Match, as well as for Time-Life. Some of his finest pictures were taken in the midst of that war, in which he was wounded in action five times, the last severely enough to bring his war reporting day to an end. Despite his injuries, Tim Page went back to work, and returned to England in 1979, when he was the subject of a BBC documentary, "Mentioned in Dispatches," and had his first major exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. His other books include TEN YEARS AFTER: VIETNAM TODAY, SRI LANKA, PAGE AFTER PAGE: MEMOIRS OF A WAR-TORN PHOTOGRAPHER, ANOTHER VIETNAM and MID-TERM REPORT. William Shawcross, who also reported on the Vietnam War, contributes an introduction to Tim Page's work. The commentary on the images themselves is by the photographer.