With previously unpublished photographs by an incredibly diverse group of the world's top news photographers, Photojournalists on War presents a groundbreaking new visual and oral history of America's nine-year conflict in the Middle East. Michael Kamber interviewed photojournalists from many leading news organizations, including Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, Magnum, Newsweek, the New York Times, Paris Match, Reuters, Time, the Times of London, VII Photo Agency, and the Washington Post, to create the most comprehensive collection of eyewitness accounts of the Iraq War yet published. These in-depth interviews offer first-person, frontline reports of the war as it unfolded, including key moments such as the battle for Fallujah, the toppling of Saddam's statue, and the Haditha massacre. The photographers also vividly describe the often shocking and sometimes heroic actions that journalists undertook in trying to cover the war, as they discuss the role of the media and issues of censorship. These hard-hitting accounts and photographs, rare in the annals of any war, reveal the inside and untold stories behind the headlines in Iraq.
Industry Reviews
"It is easily the best book on photography from the Iraq War and among one of the best war photography books ever."- Mark Murrmann, Mother Jones "Photojournalists on War is the result of five years of interviews with some of the world's leading photojournalists. However, finds Gwen McClure, it's also the fruit of Michael Kamber's frustration over the harrowing images that were never shown or published before... The aim of the book, which will be released on 15 May in the US and later this year in the UK, is to tell the uncensored story to the general public, an audience that hasn't been privy to much of what went on there. The photographs in the book are at once stunning and arrestingly graphic." - British Journal of Photography, May 2013 "Except for the most famous conflict photographers, such as W. Eugene Smith and David Douglas Duncan, there are few interviews published that offer an extended view of the craft of conflict photography... The interviews in Photojournalists on War give the experience a full voice, and I know of no other comparable collection for any post-Vietnam conflict... Nothing approaches the depth of Kamber's book."--Anne Wilkes Tucker, Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston "Kamber's interviews with his colleagues cover the war as they saw it - their passion for the story, their fears and daily complications, and the trauma they live with still today. Some of their images are among the most iconic of the war, some are previously unpublished, and many are gruesome, shocking, and utterly dispiriting. Most of all, the book lays bare the blunt impact of a war that, for many, remains ever present, a sadness and fierce determination found in those forever maimed - soldiers and civilians, Americans and Iraqis, and the men and women who took their pictures."--Austin Merrell, Vanity Fair "Revealing the conflict in Iraq from the viewpoint of the photojournalists covering the war, Michael Kamber's title is humbling and chilling. This book isn't for the faint-hearted, the stories within pull no punches when it comes to documenting the atrocities of war and many of the images you see here would never grace a newspaper... For that, Kamber has to be commended - the title highlights what photojournalist have to go through as part of reporting on conflicts. Brilliant images and recollections within, although definitely not for those of sensitive or uneasy deposition!" - Digital SLR Photography "The Photojournalist who covers a war is usually nameless and faceless... Now there is a new important oral history, Photojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq by Michael Kamber, a former New York Times photojournalist and writer who wants to change the perception of what Dexter Filkens says in his incisive forward, "In war the photographer is the silent witness." Kamber's aim is to give voice to the men and women who cover war, whose often powerful and graphic images help define our perception of what war is." - Ron Steinman, Hot Shoe, June 1st 2013 "A spectacular new book titled ' Photojournalists On War: The Untold Stories From Iraq ' has brought together a collection of never-before-seen images from three dozen of the world's leading frontline photographers. [The book] also includes eyewitness accounts from the courageous photojournalists who risked their lives to bring the war home during America's nine-year conflict in the Middle East ... Kamber - a three time Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist and reporter - interviewed his colleagues from many leading news organizations, including the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Reuters, Time and the Washington Post. Their often harrowing accounts include key moments such as the battle for Fallujah, the toppling of Saddam's statue, and the Haditha massacre. The photographers also vividly describe the often shocking and sometimes heroic actions that journalists undertook to cover the war to reveal the untold stories behind the headlines in Iraq." - Helen Pow, Daily Mail, 4th November 2013 "Michael Kamber has put together a thoughtful selection of pictures for Photojournalists on War: the Untold Stories from Iraq...Kamber, who covered the war for The New York Times, interviewed 39 colleagues for the book."-Lucy Davies, The Daily Telegraph, November 2013 "This book is staggeringly memorable. Raw, unsparing photographs and graphic, involved commentary by journalists on the ground in Iraq leave the reader deeply moved and affected. War, however justified, is an ugly affair and we need reminders like this book to underline the enormous human costs and tragedies." - Lord George Robertson, former Nato Secretary General, The Telegraph, "[A] comprehensive visual and oral history of the nine year Iraq War using previously unpublished photos and a plethora of eyewitness frontline accounts." - Robert Birnbaum, Daily Beast "By virtue of the breadth of opinion and depth of questions, Photojournalists On War is THE reference book for any discussion of the War on Iraq and photography."--Pete Brook, photoeye.com, January 2014 "Of the seventy interviewed, just under forty men and women have their tales and some of their photographs recorded in this book. The cumulative effect is shattering. Their accounts read like electrifying vignettes of close combat - 'It was so tight that I kept my fourteen-millimeter lens on practically the entire time.' Their previously unpublished photos capture heartbreaking moments and scenes of torment that raise ethical and political questions about the invasion of Iraq. In more than one interview, mention is made of how no single image has emerged as the iconic photograph of the Iraq War yet this book is full of pictures that could and should be contenders." - Lensculture
