Forgotten War: Democratic Republic of the Congo [Paperback]

James Nachtwey (Photographer), Gary Knight (Photographer), Simon Robinson (Introduction), Nicolas de Torrente (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2006

Forgotten War: Democratic Republic of the Congo is a collaboration between VII Photo Agency, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and de.MO. Introduction by Simon Robinson, who has covered Africa for Time since 1999; foreword is by Nicolas de Torrente, executive director of MSF.

Extraordinary photographs document the crisis in eastern Congo where the death toll is the highest ever attributed to war anywhere in the world since World War II. Violence, war-related hunger, and disease continue to kill 1,000 people every day, and almost four million deaths have occurred in the past five years.

Also recorded is the response by the MSF, a medical humanitarian organization delivering aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and exclusion from health care in nearly 70 countries.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nachtwey grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from Dartmouth College, where he studied Art History and Political Science. He's worked on photographic essays in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, South Africa, Russia, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo, Romania, Brazil, Iraq, and the US. Robinson has covered Africa for Time magazine since 1999, first from Nairobi, Kenya and now from Johannesburg, South Africa. He has reported from over 35 countries in Africa and the Middle East, including Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Nigeria, the Palestinian Territories, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Yemen. In 2003, he was TIME's acting bureau chief in Baghdad. Torrente is Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the United States. Before joining the US officein early 2001, he worked extensively for the organization, first as an administrator and head of mission in Tanzania and Rwanda, and later as an emergency coordinator in Somalia, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Macedonia, and Afghanistan Contract photographer for Newsweek, concerned primarily with human rights and issues of crime and justice. Published EVIDENCE: THE CASE AGAINST MILOSOVIC with de.MO in 2002.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: de.MO (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974283657
• ISBN-13: 978-0974283654
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,587,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > Travel > Africa > Democratic Republic of Congo
  • #53 in Books > History > Africa > Republic of the Congo

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hard work, gentle package, February 15, 2007

By 

Photo Politico "Chip" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forgotten War: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Paperback)

The great photography aside, the book presentation is innovative but very ginger. I'm afraid of cracking the spine on this beautiful work of art every time I want to read it. The whole package is held together with a heavy-duty rubber band (cool concept) and the book itself is just bound pages. It is a keepsake that I will treasure but can't return to too many times for fear of breaking it.
The photography is not VII's best showing. Many of the images are quiet and misreable in tone. The photographers move through brothels and hospitals, measuring the awful toll of the senseless and endless war in the Congo. As far as a full panorama of the conflict goes, this misses the target. Still, if you are a fan of reportage then this book is a must.