Afterwar: Veterans from a World in Conflict [Hardcover]

Lori Grinker (Author), Robert Pledge (Editor), Chris Hedges (Introduction), Jacques Menasche (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

Afterwar: Veterans from a World in Conflict is a culmination of 15 years spent photographing and interviewing men, women and children who have been on the frontlines of every major conflict of the past century. It is a portrait documenting the deep physical and psychological effects on the veterans whose bodies and minds are changed forever. It is not the “politics” of a particular war that the people in this work represent, but rather a portrayal of our culture of warring and the aftermath of war in human terms.

Organized in reverse chronological order, from the most recently ended conflicts to the early part of the century, the book includes Sri Lanka, Liberia, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Israel-Palestine, El Salvador, Cambodia, Eritrea-Ethiopia, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Lebanon, the Falkland Islands, Vietnam, the Middle East, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Algeria, Indochina, Korea, China, World War II, Spain and World War I.

Lori Grinker, born in 1957 in New York, is a member of the photo agency Contact Press Images. Her social-humanistic work has taken her to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, the USSR, Africa and throughout the United States. Her work has been featured in Life, The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, People, the Sunday Times Magazine (London), Stern, GEO, French Photo and American Photo. She is the author/photographer of The Invisible Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American Women.

Chris Hedges is a former war correspondent in El Salvador, Kosovo, the Balkans, the Middle East and the first Gulf War. He joined the staff of The New York Times in 1990, and he was a member of newspaper’s team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for coverage of global terrorism. He is the author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lori Grinker began her career in 1980. Her photographs have been featured in magazines, books and television programs throughout the world. Her photographs have been exhibited in the United States, Europe, and Asia. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including the W. Eugene Smith Fellowship, the Ernst Haas Grant, the Hasselblad Grant, and the World Press Award.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: de.MO; First Edition edition (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970576870
• ISBN-13: 978-0970576873
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,742,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Visually Stunning, Emotionally Bracing, Informative Book, March 22, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Afterwar: Veterans from a World in Conflict (Hardcover)

AFTERWAR: VETERANS FROM A WORLD IN CONFLICT represents fifteen intensive years of photographing and interviewing veterans/survivors of the many wars of the past century. These images and quotations and quiet thoughts and outrages are not limited to the 'unpopular wars', but to all of the major conflicts, many of them undeservedly unknown to many readers: Sri Lanka, Liberia, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Israel-Palestine, El Salvador, Cambodia, Eritrea-Ethiopia, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Falkland Islands, Vietnam, The Middle East, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Algeria, Indochina, Korea, China, World War II, Spain, World War I. Staggering list: terrifying history of repetition and devastation of human lives and lands.

Lori Grinker is a sensitive observer and interviewer. She has created some images of people of all walks of life, social strata, sex, and backgrounds that are not only superbly executed professional photographs, they are incredibly engaging. She has elected to design this book in a way that follows a timeline - from the present through the painful pages of the past. In doing so she has succinctly outlined each of the conflicts she is addressing and in doing so brings to our attention many facts about wars that have escaped our attention.

She also has taken artistic license by creating images, such as the cover photograph, which at first glance seems to be a relaxing, floating, peaceful swimmer - or is this a patient in a treatment bath after losing the lower parts of his legs? It is that kind of mental inquiry that sharpens her lessons of speaking about the effects of war. She does not preach, she does not prejudice us: Lori Grinker simply reports.

The book's opening essay is a sensitive evaluation of Grinker's contribution, personalized just enough to make it extremely readable and poignant. The essay opens the door to this volume of experiences that hopefully, through visualization and spoken word of those who survived, will help in the cosmic need to end wars once and for all. All this is written as the war in Iraq beats on. Buy, and read, this book. Highly Recommended on every level. Grady Harp, March 05.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the reality of war, August 13, 2007

By 

charles grinker "proud father" (juno beach, florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Afterwar: Veterans from a World in Conflict (Hardcover)

I served in the Korean War and at age 20-22 learned what war really is. This book dramaticlly and factually presents the reader with that horrible reality. It's not about winning and losing - it's about the unforgettable experiences of individuals on both sides. You will learn a great deal from Lori Grinker's book and you'll never forget the images she has captured.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling and Engaging Document, November 17, 2004

By 

Douglas Levere - See all my reviews

This review is from: Afterwar: Veterans from a World in Conflict (Hardcover)

I just got home from listening to Lori Grinker lecture on her new book, After War. I am overwhelmed.

Grinker's photographs combined with the firsthand accounts of the human toll of war compel and engage on every page. Grinker poignantly expresses this tragic topic leaving each and every subject their every dignity and respect.

The quote at the beginning of the book tells the story for me "You must be the change you want to see in the world", Mahatma Gandhi. Lori with your 15 year dedication to this subject you have done your part.